The Whimsical Cottage

How Divination Brought Me Here

2012-02-17T10:17:00.000-05:00

Ages old and used in many forms by many cultures, divination is still extremely popular today. Perhaps you've dabbled here and there with Victorian versions, such as peeling an apple into a single slice and tossing it over your shoulder to look for the first initial of your true love? Maybe you've used a fortune teller machine at the boardwalk or had your palm read at a fair? You may also read cards, use a pendulum, or divine signs from clouds, smoke or fire.

For me, divination was the door that opened and helped me begin to walk the path that had been unfolding in my heart since youth. As a young child I felt inclined to spend my afternoons in the woods, tracking animals, burying the dead when I found them, talking to trees, collecting rocks and making mud potions. As an older child (a tween, I suppose) I began to worship the Greek pantheon, in my own way, after devouring at least two dozens books on differing ancient mythologies. I built shrines, painted and continued my outdoor adventures and rituals, never knowing what exactly to call myself. When I entered my teens and religion became something folks discussed on occasion, I would say - I believe in something, but can't put my finger on what to call it exactly.

Then, when I was fourteen, something new was introduced to my path. A friend (who I later lost from my circle due to teenage stupidities) gifted me with a deck of Universal Waite Tarot cards. And they were magnificent. The images on them were gorgeous, softly colored and expertly drawn. The pattern of stars on the back delighted and captivated me; I was enamored of them. I immediately began to methodically memorize the 'little white book' (as many first timers do, I'm sure) and following my friends advice, stuck only to the major arcana. After a while, I deviated from the book with my readings, I would spread the cards out on my bed, draw one or two and make note of them in my huge notebook or ask the cards yes or no questions, shuffle and then turn them over, putting them into piles of right side up and reversed; more reversed meant 'no', more right side up meant 'yes' and an equal number meant they couldn't say.

This went on for a year or so and then I began to want to know more. I began working with the full set yet I hungered to learn new spreads and found that a lot of the cards didn't resonate well with me; their meanings in the book and the feelings they gave me didn't sync up. I hit the libraries (we had *just* gotten dial-up internet, so that was the slooow method of learning) and began to devour books on reading tarot. And the more I read, the more this one word kept popping out at me; 'Wicca'. Being curious, I began to read books on that subject and while it didn't exactly fit with my own feelings, it was closer than I had ever been to giving a name to my beliefs. From there I went on to learn more about other forms of paganism and witchcraft and it led me to here; 15 years later. All because of a set of tarot cards.

Divination still factors into my path today, though I have no strong knack for reading the tarot these days. I fell out of practice right around the end of high school and they sat unattended for many years. Now, when I pick them up I no longer feel intuitively connected to them; it's as if we've had a falling out. I'm making attempts to repair our connection but it has most definitely been a slow moving process. I've tried other sets of tarot cards while working this out, but to the same end. The cards, while beautiful, don't sing for me the way that they used to.

That being said however, I've had tremendous success in reading the heart of faerie oracle deck I picked up on a whim a while back. Each day I pull a card and read with them at each new moon; asking what I need to keep in mind during the coming cycle. Sometimes I do a larger reading because something tugs at me to do so.

For quick yes or no questions these days, I use my pendulum. As it is made of red variegated agate, I will sometimes carry it in my pocket if I'm having a day when I'm not feeling so hot or when my eye condition is flaring up.

On occasion, I also read tea leaves, which I find to be both tasty and fun. I drink my tea down to nearly the last drop (which involves a fair amount of slurping!) then give the cup a good swirl, three times round, before turning it upside down onto a plate. I flip the cup back over and look at the shapes the tea leaves have formed and how they relate to each other. Typically, I don't focus on anything in particular when I do this - I just let them say whatever they feel the need to say. Thus far I have never seen a Grim. ;)

So loves, now you know a bit more about my relationship with divination and how it plays into my path. How about you? How did you come into it? What forms do you prefer?

As a bonus, have any of you a falling out with a form, where it no longer seemed to work for you? Were you able to repair it or did you need to let it go?

Oh, Magical Sea Life

2012-02-13T13:09:00.000-05:00

My trip to the aquarium on my birthday far surpassed what I had expected it to be. Having always been an avid lover of and devotee to the sea, the creatures that live within its waters have always fascinated me. Any chance I get to visit a reputable aquarium, particularly ones that do rescue and recovery, I go.

The aquarium in neighboring Georgia is said to be one of, if not the, largest in the world. It is home to many species of animal I've not had the chance to encounter before, including whale sharks and beluga whales. For those who don't know, I have been obsessed (I am not exaggerating) with sharks for as long as I can remember. When I first had access to the local and school libraries I would take out stuffy science books about them while other kids picked up "Clifford the Big Red Dog" (mind you, I liked him an awful lot too!) and Shark Week was an event in our house. An event meaning, if it was Shark Week we had better be watching shark programs. So, knowing full well that it was an achievable goal, I stuck "see a Whale Shark" at the top of my 30 by 30 list.

I'm not sure what I was expecting to feel when I first saw one. Perhaps a giddiness akin to Christmas morning? Maybe a sense of awe at how impressive they are? Whatever the feelings stirring inside of me may have been, they moved me to tears and I sat in the big viewing room at the aquarium, surrounded by children and strangers and cried a little. It was indescribably moving for me; the sharks were unimaginably beautiful. That isn't to say the others that we saw weren't, but for me seeing these magnificent animals was like the fulfilling of a childhood wish. The only thing that may have moved me more would be seeing real life dinosaurs, but we've all seen Jurassic Park and know how that would end.

So without further rambling, here are a few more photos of my magical aquarium trip:

Penguin

Beluga Whales

Pacific Jellyfish

Manta Ray

A rare Danni-fish.

There are a bunch more photos if anyone is feeling nosey or wants to see these ones larger. Just go to the Flickr set here.

Of Wax and Wick: Candles

2012-02-10T06:00:00.001-05:00

The simple candle; wax and wick, scent and color. A versatile item, used often in my practice and my every day life. Around my house, you'll see them in seasonal colors on the mantle, tea light lanterns in the bedroom and living room and several large scented candles that I burn on occasion. In the kitchen, you'll find a particularly large herb encrusted candle that I burn while cooking or cleaning.

I often burn candles to invite the light in, especially when I'm feeling depleted or depressed. Sitting and focusing on the flame, I'll look for shapes and signs or slowly close my eyes and let the warm glow carry my thoughts off and leave my mind resting and calm. I find meditating on the flame or the scent of a candle to be soothing. I almost always have one burning when company comes over, although if you asked me why I feel the need to do this I couldn't give you a straight answer as my reasons are quite varied: to set a mood, to promote harmony and warmth, to burn away negativity or bad feelings, the ward off harmfulness and gossip to name a few.

When it comes to my magical workings, candles are almost always involved. On my altar there is always the main candle, which I use to light other candles in ritual as well as to read the cards and makes notes by. I light candles as a simple daily gesture to the Gods, Elements and spirits. At each new moon I burn a black candle and at each full moon I burn white; typically there is nothing else aside from divination done on these nights. For each sabbat, I burn candles in devotion to the Gods and to celebrate the season and associations of the celebration.

In my cabinet you will find a large collection of tea lights and chime candles in varying colors that I use for simple petition magic; to send healing, to promote protection, to share passion. Along with these smaller candles are larger ones that I use when I have a more serious desire or need to work towards. These larger ones will often be inscribed with symbols, dressed in oils or rubbed down with herbs to help focus and boost my intentions. When I dress the candles, I pick the point on the candle that represents myself (typically the wick end) and dress from that point outwards to send things from me and dress from the outside towards that point to attract my desires. In my path, the candle runs the gamut from a simple devotion to a powerful magical tool.

How do candles play into your path or everyday life?

P.S. Since I missed last week's "C" post for the Pagan Blog Project, I thought I'd share the colors I like to use in candle (and color) magic. Please note, you may not associate the same colours with the same things as I do and that's O.K. That's the beauty of walking our own individual paths.

White: An all purpose color that I use to balance out black in banishment rituals (to draw something in to fill the void), in devotions to the Goddess, the Moon and to add a little extra something to spells. The Maiden Goddess, Purity and Cleansing.

Pink: Love, harmony, tenderness and compassion.

Red: Passion, Sexuality, Fire, Strength, Confidence, the Mother Goddess.

Orange: Happiness, Harvest, Energy.

Yellow: Air, Life, Vitality, The Sun, Hope and Joy.

Green: Healing, Prosperity, The Green Man and Woman, Nature, and Earth.

Blue: Water, Calm, Creativity, Cleansing, Soothing, Communication.

Purple: Third Eye, Clairvoyance, Wisdom, Spirituality, Warding off Nightmares.

Brown: Earth, Grounding, Stability, Forest Spirits (often alongside green) and Protection.

Black: Banishment, The Crone Goddess, The Underworld, Absorbs negativity, protection and purification.

P.P.S. Happy birthday to me! Only 365 days until I am officially out of my 20's. Plans for today include a trip to Atlanta and checking 'See a whale shark' off of my 30 by 30 list. :)

366 Days of 20

2012-02-09T16:00:00.002-05:00

At roughly 5:00am tomorrow, I will begin the last year of my 20's. For some of my friends, who have or are about to reach this age, it's been a source of major stress and sort of a big deal. A fact which has made me feel like maybe I'm missing something, since it seems like any other birthday to me. Am I sad to be leaving my 20's at the end of this year? At present? Nope. I made the jump from childhood to adolescence and from adolescence to adulthood without much of a backwards glance - so why make a big deal out of this change? Time marches forward whether we're ready for it or not; whether you kick and scream or not you're still going to get older.

And while I can say that I'm neither having an end of early adulthood crisis nor a lot of sighing or reminiscing, I do feel as though this one *should* be a bit special. Perhaps it's a mingling of knowing there's a sort of age threshold approaching and the fact that I decided 2012 is going to be a big deal for me. Maybe not such a big deal in the eyes of anyone else, but as one of my mantras for this year is "Who gives a fuck what others think?" I'm not going to sweat it.

In order to get my thoughts, plans and goals together I've taken a page out of the Big Book of Late 20's activities and made myself a mini bucket list; a 30 before 30 list. 30 things I'd like to do or at least keep in mind over the next 366 days. Did I make this list to be dramatic and awe inspiring? Nope. I've made it so I can have some accountability, it's high time I do some of these random or silly things. So, without further adieu, I present to you my 30 before 30 list:

Danni's 30 by 30 List
1. See a whale shark.
2. Fly a kite.
3. Be a healthy weight.
4. Write a letter to myself to open in 10 years.
5. Get my passport.
6. Travel outside of the U.S.
7. Ride a horse.
8. Volunteer at an animal shelter.
9. Go to a drum circle.
10. Build a sheet fort.
11. Make a decision with a coin toss.
12. Have a Harry Potter movie-thon.
13. Ride in a hot air balloon. (For the record? I'm terrified of heights.)
14. Complete a journal.
15. Lay out and watch cloud shapes.
16. Learn (or at least make a solid effort to learn) Spanish.
17. Go to a music festival.
18. Eat cake without using my hands.
19. Give belly dancing a shot.
20. Participate in the Color Run when it comes to Charlotte, NC.
21. Adopt a puppy.
22. Use a fake name at Starbucks.
23. Have a Red Dress photo shoot.
24. Put my toes in the ocean again.
25. Watch a meteor shower.
26. Stop caring and accept myself.
27. Be brave and bold hearted.
28. Paint my own version of Van Gogh's Starry night.
29. Sleep outside.
30. Be Happy.

There are several other things I'd like to accomplish this year that I haven't put on the list, such as letting go of some things, reconnecting, getting deeper into my path, tuning more into nature, making more time for my muse and finding my tribe. I decided to keep my list relatively light and sort of silly, filled with simple things I've never done (like flying a kit or riding a horse) and things I've done that make me childishly happy (like sleeping outside and watching meteor showers.) I figure, if I'm going to make this year special, it had better be good fun to boot!

Review: Late for Tea at the Deer Palace

2012-02-07T00:01:00.000-05:00

Late for Tea at the Deer Palace by Tamara Chalabi

About this Novel:
Just ten days after Baghdad’s fall in 2003, Tamara Chalabi arrived in the city after a lifetime in exile—finally entering the homeland she’d known only through stories and her own imagination.

Investigating four generations of her family’s history at the forefront of Iraqi society, Chalabi offers a rich portrait of Middle Eastern life and a provocative look at a lost Iraq. Unforgettable characters provide glimpses of the end of the Ottoman Empire, the birth of the Iraqi state, the flowering of “the Paris of the Middle East,” and Iraq’s descent into chaos. At once intimate and magisterial, Chalabi’s memoir of return and reclamation vividly captures the rich history of a country shattered by war and a family that has never forgotten its past.
******

If you've watched the news, read the paper or been online at all over the past ten years, you probably hold a particular image of Iraq in your mind. It probably isn't a pretty one either. A large number of people view Iraq as a country of war, populated by violent religious extremists. It is a land largely shrouded in mystery to many of us, with our only knowledge coming from what we've read and seen in the media.

So imagine my surprise and delight at the view offered by Tamara Chalabi, daughter of Ahmad Chalabi, a leading opposition figure to Saddam Hussein's regime. She begins her tale of history and family in the early 1900's, with her great-grandfather, the influential Abdul Hussein and the British occupation of Mesopotamia during World War I; from which Modern day Iraq was born. In the style of Iraq's oral traditions, the memoir encompasses the points of view and life events of several of Chalabi's relatives including her father, aunts, grandfather and her grandmother, Bibi. (Who I loved from her initial appearance in the family's story.) While she tells of the events occurring around the family in Iraq, the heart and soul of the novel lies within the lives, loves and losses of the family.

This story is neither a dry historical look at the country's past nor a boring slideshow of a family's past. To me, this memoir is a celebration of a family and the country they loved, were forced from and their eventual homecoming many years later. A masterful weaving of Chalabi's personal and political feelings, it offers insights into the hows and whys of Iraq's past as well as its current situation. It is an eye opening and insightful look at a misunderstood country and its people, which I would recommend wholeheartedly to those interested in history, the middle east or just a good read.

That you to Trish at TLC Book Tours and Harper Perennial for the review copy of this book. To see what other bloggers thought of the work, click the image above.

Midwinter Blessings

2012-02-01T16:15:00.000-05:00

The first signs of Spring's approach break through the cold of Winter. The sun shines a bit warmer and a bit longer each day, the snow drops and first daffodils raise their sleepy heads above the cold earth. Midwinter has come, reminding us that as in all cycles, the darkness and cold will soon end and be replaced by warmth and light.

As Brighid wakes and the maiden goddess begins her dominion over the year, so too does Nature. There are stirrings in the forest, of matings and returnings, of birthings and growing. It is a time to reflect on what Winter has taught us, what we found within ourselves and in the dark. This is also a time of beginnings, of promises, of hope. A time to ready the seeds for sewing, in our gardens and in ourselves.

It's a fire festival, so let's burn the Yule greenery and invite the light into our homes and our hearts. Light your candles, clean out the hearth and start the fire anew. Here at Midwinter, let's cast off and burn away the old and that which holds us back.

May Brighid bless you muchly and may the fire and promise of this day help you to prepare the seeds you plan to sew; both in nature and in yourself.

P.S. Each day I've been making a effort to pull an oracle card for myself. Some days I don't do it first thing in the morning and today was one of those days. It was also one of those days when self doubt and dwindling faith in me crept in. As I was lighting the candles in the house, I decided to pull my oracle card and this is the Fae that reached out to me today:

She gently reminded me to be kind to myself and to keep the faith. That while I should keep my heart open (how else will you live, love and experience things?) to shield myself against the words, moods and hurts of others. Sitting on my altar, she reminds me to believe in myself and know that I am worthy.

Oftentimes, the universe knows exactly what we need to hear and when to let us know it.

On Bees

2012-01-26T21:28:00.000-05:00

Despite their humble appearance and the occasional sting, bees have many lessons to share. Being the makers of honey, a central ingredient in mead and honeyed wine, bees have an association with the gods as well as a long standing place in magic and non-magical society. They add sweetness to our lives and rituals and remind us not to work so hard that we forget to taste the 'honey' in our own lives. They tell us that the things of which we dream can be accomplished through perseverance, every day just by flying these wee creatures accomplish a seemingly impossible task.

Bees are most often associated with the qualities of hard work, focus, productivity, cooperation and wealth due to the way that they work in their hive. All aspects of the hive must function properly in order for it to continue to prosper and each individual bee becomes single-minded and sharp focused when performing a task. Due to their instinctive nature to fearlessly defend their home they are also associated with devotion to friends and family. Travel, messages from the gods, connection between the here and the Otherworld, life and death, sexuality and fertility are other traits and phenomena that are sometimes associated with the bee.

In spite of all that, the most important lesson of the bees is a simple one: Don't just take, give back as well. As they gather nectar and travel from flower to flower they help to pollinate the plants thereby giving them the ability to create more flowers or to bear fruit. A healthy population of bees is a gardeners best friend, regardless of the size of their plot. It is this departure from selfishly taking without thought of giving that makes this lesson one which is vitally important to take to heart. Humans seem to have forgotten this cycle, the bees have not.

If bees begin to appear in your life, and not just because it's Spring, take a few moments to sit and think about where your life is at the moment. Are you working so hard that you're forgetting to savor the fruits of your labor? Perhaps you've been in some sort of slump and your time has been anything but productive. What dreams have you been neglecting? Maybe you asked the Universe or the Gods something and the wee winged ones hold the answer you seek. Don't only take to heart the associations listed here; go out and really observe the bees that are around you, for their lessons may differ from these. Be silent and listen.

If you find that the bees move you or you just want to help out a creature that is dwindling despite its significant role in our ecosystems and agriculture, consider doing something for them. Plant a bee garden, filled with plants that are particularly attractive to them. Keep it organic so they don't slurp down chemicals at each meal. If you have a large yard and you won't miss having a chunk of it mowed and clipped allow it to grow tall and sow it with wildflowers and herbs, effectively creating your own mini meadow. Not only will the bees thank you, but birds and other small critters will appreciate it as well.

If you have the money, the space and the patience, consider taking up beekeeping. Yes, you will undoubtedly get stung at some point, but to equalize the hurt you'll have honey, wax and the knowledge that you're helping a thriving bee colony grow.

In nature and in spirituality, bees are truly magical creatures.

Spring In January

2012-01-25T14:18:00.001-05:00

Spring seems to be springing extra early this year. I would tell you it was ushered in by the first Robin of Spring but our Robins never flew off, instead they opted to lazily sit in large groups in my back yard while I was camera-less and unable to document their flocking. Instead, it was heralded in by the tulips and honey bees.

Now being from the great white North, this entire space between October and now has felt incredibly off to me. First of all, it's only dropped below 40* two, maybe three, times during the day. I haven't fallen into a state of Seasonal Affective Disorder or a state of deep introspection. Maybe there's been a bit of writer's block, artist block and a few unmotivated days of couch potato-ism, but I'm chalking that up to working 45+ hour weeks strangling the life from my bones. There hasn't been a single snowflake, nor real ice and while there has been frost on my car a few mornings, I haven't had to break out anything heavier than my hoody. My poor wool coat is sitting in the closet sighing sadly as I'm outside weeding the gardens.

Gloves? Who needs stinkin' gloves.

With the lack of deep freezes and it being too dark or chilly when I get home to weed, the vetch, dandelions, crab grasses, etc never died off during the winter and have more or less taken over my back garden. Luckily, it's been gorgeous and I've gotten out twice this week to begin to pluck them away from my strawberries, crocus, roses, sages and lavenders.

With the trees budding, the bees buzzing and the temperature rising, I've been perusing seed catalogs and ordering things for the vegetable garden. We'll be expanding it a wee bit this year, adding another bed and several large ceramic pots to fill in gaps between beds which I plan to fill with herbs and bee attracting flowers. We'll be replacing the musty old mulch with a thick layer of gravel to prevent the return of the great weed takeover and eliminate the moist nastiness that mosquitoes seemed to love last year, as well as building a much more sturdy fence. I plan to actually get some beans this year and not let the rabbits eat all of them.

Still with all this Spring in the air and the fever of it all dancing in my brain, I'm still a bit weirded out that it's only January. I'm a bit weirded out that my birthday will be here in 16 days and it will possibly be classified as a Spring birthday! Not that I'm complaining mind you, I've always hated having a winter birthday since Momma Nature just loves to give me lots of snow every year, but it's definitely taking some getting used to.

P.S. All those extra hours at work were actually good for something (if not my sanity or art). Those photos, right up there? Those were taken with my shiny, new to me camera that I ordered two weeks ago. It feels so good to have one again, I felt like a big part of me was missing the past few months. :)

P.P.S. I'm sad to say, with all that's been going on, I won't be hosting the February Fairies party this year. Perhaps, when things calm down a bit, I can host it in a different month.

Pagan Art Journal: Green Men and Wild Women

2012-01-13T10:45:00.006-05:00

It's been a while since I've really sat down to work in any of my art journals. Mostly it's been because I've been feeling burned out; my days have held very little spiritual time lately, consisting primarily of working, eating and sleeping. But like I said in my farewell to 2011 I have a good feeling about 2012 and plan to get into the nitty gritty and really let the essence of me shine through; I'm not letting anything suck the life out of me or send me to the shits anymore.

And so, a return to art and to journaling is in order. While I was planning on working on something in my giant art journal, the wee book I've dedicated to becoming my pagan art journal called out to be used instead. I suppose my spirit wanted time for both art and spirituality, how could I deny it?

This spread was originally the beginning of a background which would house my thoughts on Yule. However, when I looked at the greens and yellows, I saw someone there. And as I looked further, I realized there were two someones. I worked over the areas without conscious thought, in thin layers of white paint and revealed there lords of the green and growing things:

This page was absolutely magical for me to work on, as the faces emerged I felt energized. In my practice, the Lord and Lady of the Greenwood are the two deities with whom I work most frequently and with whom I most connect. They call to me from the deep woods, from the gardens, they reveal themselves to me in the flicker of leaves. It is their cycles and spaces with which I am most in tune and where I am most at peace.

Then this past week, while on my lunch break at work, I had the urge to write a sort of ode to Wild Woman. And so I scribbled on the back of an envelope and once home broke out the journal. I began to sketch and once pleased, inked the line work and painted the pages. I wanted to convey both night and day as well as Earth and Sky in the color work, so the page is colorful and a bit mottled. I've opted to keep the illustrations white for now because I like the contrast with the background:

The text, a reminder and call to all daughters of the Wild Woman:

I am that which dwells in the deep forest, the music of rivers, the scent of moss and mud. I am the glint you recognize in the stars, the changing seasons, the running wolf. I am the soaring hawk and the delicacy of a feather. I am that which tugs at your feet, urging you to dance, to run and the sing your songs from mountain tops. I draw you to bask in sun and to quest by moon. I am Wild Woman, I am all around and within you.

I needed this reminder and somewhere out there, I know someone else will too. Be well, my lovelies.

The Greatest Gift I've Received

2012-01-06T21:06:00.001-05:00

Beneath my tree this year, were a variety of wonderful, thoughtful gifts from a wonderful hairy man, who likes to joke about and (to some extent) has a hard time shopping for me. Among my plethora of gifts was a hand carved wooden elephant and turtle from his trip to the Dominican Republic, beautiful wool fingerless gloves/mittens, tasty treats, the brand new set of tavern mouselings from Reaper Miniatures and a gorgeous deck of playing cards from the Ukraine (from whence my paternal grandfather came).

And while these gifts are all wonderful and thoughtful the greatest gifts I received were the ones he was most nervous about giving me. The first, a large box filled to bursting with shredded paper held a partial doe skull (he was nervous that I would be upset that she was jaw-less, I was not.) and a wild card, a complete (and beautiful) badger skull:

He was, again, a bit nervous about this one because he had no reason for choosing a badger, he just did. He felt better when I unwrapped it, squealed in delight and proceeded to go badger, badger, badger at it. What can I say? Sometimes I'm a silly witch. I've never worked with badger before, but this little fellow sent massive voltage up my arm and makes me tingle (in a not unpleasant way) when I hold it so I'll be looking further into the medicine of Badger. I'll post more on this wee skull and the critter inside in the future.

The gift he was most nervous about, and in fact even warned me that it was lame, was the final gift he presented me on Christmas morning. I unwrapped it with my newly mitted hands and was a wee bit confused at first, as it was a box made from corrugated cardboard and duct tape. But then I saw there was a note inside and proceeded to read:

I wanted to get you a very special present but I had some difficulties because it is so personal. So let me tell you what it is not... --->

I picked up the note and behind it, was a second note and this:

It is not a whimsical broom. --->

I picked up the second note:

It is not a fancy knife. --->

I picked up the third note to reveal the final one:
But it could be. It could be whatever you want it to be, just point it out when you find it. This is a promise, not a gift card.

I burst into tears and wrapped my arms around this man who loves every single aspect of me, accepts it all and actually encourages me to be who and what I am. Never before have I had a gift move me to tears. The wee broom that he made with fallen birch branch and twine that he unwound to make the head is sitting on my altar, a beautiful tool for cleansing my space or my head. The knife, while not sharp, is in my cabinet awaiting a use. It turns out, that the gift he thought was the lamest, was actually the best - and one of the best ever. A reminder that no matter what others may say or do, there will always be one bright, shining star of acceptance in my horizons. And that, is the greatest gift I could ever ask to receive.

So Long, 2011.

2011-12-31T18:43:00.000-05:00

Compared to 2010 which was a whirlwind of change and activity, 2011 was a pretty low key year. My brother moved down here and briefly stayed with us (and as much as I love him, I'm glad he's moved out!) and my sister made me an aunt for the very first time, to a beautiful baby girl.

We searched for a few months for our first house and I'm pleased to say that a last minute change of my mind as to where I wanted to live brought us to the perfect home for us. We made the decision to get ourselves out of debt, which led to me finding a part time job (that has been not so part time) and re-affirming my knowledge that no matter where you live, or what you may have heard about a place, people are still asshats. While I've not made many friends down here, I've become more comfortable with myself and just hanging out alone; making steps back towards the happy go lucky loner I used to be.

I've taken my One Word for 2011 to heart and let go of a lot of the feelings and material things that I no longer needed. Some were burned away by fire, others were let go to the wind. Some were donated to charity and some found their way to the rubbish bin. I've cleaned house and my heart and made room for the things that are worth holding on to; while I never received formal closure to some wounds, I no longer need it. I'm still working on letting go, both of things in the past and the present and so I won't be leaving this in 2011. This little phrase is something that will stick with me and become a mantra of sorts; a sort of road map back to a happiness in which not a single fuck was given about what someone thought of me. I'm letting go of the stigmas and the fears and just embracing me. A fairy loving, tree hugging, dirt worshipping wife, woman and witch with a wild (yet slightly timid) heart, a fondness for earth and ale and a (sometimes cruel) sarcastic streak.

Which leads me into 2012's word(s), which build upon the foundation that I laid in 2011. These two, to me, go hand in hand because one cannot happen without the other. And they are:

Heal

1. To restore to health or soundness; cure.
2. To set right; repair,
3. To restore or be restored to friendly relations, harmony, etc.
4. To restore (a person) to spiritual wholeness.

I plan to heal from the traumas and injustices from my past. To restore the faiths and beliefs I've lost along the way. I want to restore my faith in myself; to know that my true, soulful, and genuine self is the best person I can ever be. And that I should never, ever apologize for any of it.

And in so doing, I plan to:

Flourish

1. To grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, esp. as the result of a particularly favorable environment
2. To be in one's prime; be at the height of fame, excellence, influence, etc.
3. To be successful; prosper.
4. To grow luxuriantly, or thrive in growth, as a plant.

As in, to let the best parts of me grow, while the worst parts of me are left behind to wither away. I'm actually working on one of those 30 by 30 bucket lists for this year, to start on my 29th birthday. It may sound a bit ambitious, perhaps a bit like I'm setting myself up for disappointment, but I have this feeling in my guts that 2012 is going to be a big year for me. Even if it doesn't seem so big from the outside.

Here's a toast to the shiny new year! May it be filled with all the changes, dreams, growth and love you can handle.

P.S. Is anyone else picking one word or making a resolution this year?
P.P.S. What sort of recap would this be without a wee bit more photo sharing? Here are some snaps from 2011.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T01:11:00.008-05:00

Santa Claus by N.C. Wyeth

There's something nostalgic and childlike about Christmas that I've really grown to love. In the morning we'll get out of bed, open our gifts and spend the rest of the day loafing about munching on cookies and watching our favorite Christmas movies. This is the first year I won't be spending any portion of the holidays with my family and while I'm a little bit bummed out, I'm also looking forward to not having to go anywhere at all.

May you all have the merriest of Christmases, no matter how or why you celebrate it. May your day be jolly and your hearts unburdened because there's no doubt about it; Christmas is magic.

Hope the big man is good to you all!

Yuletide Night

2011-12-24T15:30:00.000-05:00

We had a great midwinter here. There was beef stew, chocolate/banana trifle, fresh beer bread and wassail to feast upon and while it was relatively warm, we went ahead and lit the fire anyway. We exchanged a single simple gift and then I went off to sit by the candle light of my altar for a while.

I lit my white candle and welcomed back the reborn sun. I gave thanks to the darkness for holding me close and allowing me to see things unseen by the harsh bright light and asked that it continue to teach me, for it would always be welcome.

I lit the red candle and bid farewell to the fallen King of Holly and lit green to welcome the King of Oak. Then I sat in quiet contemplation of what I would like to see happen in the next 12 months; as Yule is a celebration of rebirth I like to think of the things I'd change in order to be 'reborn' myself. I lit the candles to seal my resolutions and shared some wine with the spirits and kings. I left the candles burning and went outside beneath the cloudy night to leave my offerings to the woods and the spirits.

Still being fairly early by Yule standards, we sat down to watch some of our favorite Christmas movies and I fell asleep on the couch, curled up with my love and the kitties.

Yule Blessings

2011-12-22T09:00:00.000-05:00

On this longest of nights, may you find peace and solace in the dark.
May you share the joy and laughter of loved ones,
and find warmth even here, at Midwinter.

As the light is reborn take time to reflect
and leave that which is no longer needed,
Here. In the darkness.

The Holly king has fallen, the Oak king has risen. The king is dead. Long live the king!

Warm Wishes and blessings a plenty to you and yours this Solstice. May you have a very merry night!

Yule Tree and Memories

2011-12-18T22:24:00.000-05:00

When we first put up the tree, I had every intention of decking it out in white lights, much the same as our artificial tree. What I hadn't taken into consideration however, was the fact that this tree is easily twice as round and full as our fake one. We made it about a 3rd of the way before we ran out and needed to go out for more lights. Despite our trying four or five stores, we couldn't find a single strand of white lights and so, we switched to colored. Not really a big deal, it's been years since I've had a tree with colored lights; both Joe and I grew up with trees decked out as such.

So he strung the lights and I broke out the boxes of ornaments, carefully unpacking the familiar baubles and trinkets. We put on some Christmas music, poured some wine and hung all of our ornaments. We had a great time of it, bobbing around the tree and past each other to find the perfect branch for each treasure. When we finished we sat back to admire our work and I burst into tears. Last year, I talked a bit about my issues with the holiday season in this post; apparently I still have a few unresolved feelings and issues that came to a head after what was otherwise a beautiful evening.

You see, it's not that the tree is ugly or offensive (although white lights tend to make photography a bit easier!), it's the fact that this tree reminded me so very, very much of all of the trees I had growing up. It stirred the pot of memories, both good and bad, and drudged up all sorts of feelings that I just let out. Luckily, this bought of Christmas blues was short lived and I felt worlds better in just an hour or so. Now, I can sit back and just enjoy the tree.

Here's a peek at some of our tree's treasures:

Festive Familiars

2011-12-12T08:00:00.002-05:00

Since we were throwing a party Saturday night where tacky sweaters were the dress code AND I happened to find tiny festive bow ties while out and about, I had no choice but to dress the kitties up as well!

Chico took well to his dapper attire, posing like a regal cat.

Molly, on the other hand, was not amused and didn't mind letting me know how he felt!

Hope you all had an awesome weekend and enjoyed the last full moon of the year.

Welcome to Glitterville

2011-12-10T15:38:00.001-05:00

Happy Yuletide ball, fellow witches and partiers! Have yourselves a cup of warm wassail and let's join the denizens of Glitterville as they prepare for the upcoming holidays.

Glitterville is a sleepy little hamlet that rests upon my mantle. Assembled from cereal boxes, scrapbook paper and bric-a-brac, the town takes its name from the ever present shimmer of snow upon the rooftops.

A couple, off to visit friends stops to say 'Hello!'

While over there, another pair gets ready to a'wassailing go!

A dapper gent tips his hat in amazement at a sight...

For Santa Claus has made a surprise trip to Glitterville tonight!

Here is the recipe I'll be using for my own Wassail, for those who care to try it.

Ingredients:
2 Qt Apple Cider
2 Qt Red Wine (optional)
2 Cups Orange Juice
1/2 Cup Lemon Juice
13 Cloves
5 Cinnamon Sticks
A sprinkle or two each of nutmeg and ginger.
2 - 3 Oranges, sliced thin into rounds.

In a large pot, over low heat combine the cider, orange juice and lemon juice. Add spices in a cheesecloth bag (or not, but remember to strain before serving) along with orange slices. Let simmer 1 hour. Remove spices (strain) and add wine, allow to simmer for 1 hour more. Serve warm with cinnamon sticks or fresh orange slices as garnish.

Be sure to visit the other Yuletide Ball parties by visiting the party page here:

The War Over Winter

2011-12-08T19:58:00.000-05:00

Let's face it, the holiday season can be rough. Stringing lights, making enough food to feed a small army, being stuck in traffic on the roads and in the shops and dealing with in-laws and distant relations is enough to make even the most sane person reach for a happy pill or some liquid courage. Regardless of your religious leanings, you too will be forced to deal with at least some of the holiday madness; unless you never leave your house.

Now add to this the anxiety that occurs over a simple exchange of what should be pleasantry. You say, "Happy Holidays" to someone, either because you don't know what they celebrate and don't want to make assumptions or you're putting whatever winter holiday they do (or do not) celebrate into a nice little bundle with New Year's. In return, you'll most likely receive a 'You too!' which can range from lake bottom frigid to Midsummer warm but you may run into a viper who can't help but say something along the lines of 'It's Christmas!' in an overly indignant manner. If you work in retail or with the public, you know what I'm talking about. If you've been in the shops at this time of year, you may have seen this snake strike out at a hapless clerk who was just trying to be nice.

To these people I say; get the fuck over it. The fact that Christmas comes at the end of the month (just a week before New Year's) has not escaped my notice in my 28 years on Earth. In fact, despite my being a pagan, I celebrate it with my friends and family. Who can't get behind the idea of swapping gifts beneath a glittery tree with friends, family and hot chocolate laced with peppermint shnapps? What's that you say? I forgot the 'Christ' part of Christmas? Of course I did, I worship other gods and honor other traditions just like all of those other folks who also celebrate other holidays. You know, the ones you cram your Christmas down the throats of.

Let me ask you something, Christmas Crazy, if I were to wish you a Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Eid (when it falls in December), Happy Festivus or A Happy Yule during those holiday's times of celebration this month, would you react with as much grace and dignity as the rest of us? I doubt it, because you're batshit crazy. On the other hand, if some pimply kid at the cash register smiles and wishes me a Merry Christmas, rather than pointing the finger and yelling 'USURPER OF YULE!' at him and ranting and raving about the return of the Sun and the Triumph of the Oak King I smile warmly and wish him one as well. And do you know why? Because that kindness means more than the words that were spoken; if someone sincerely wishes me well, that is what counts. Because those simple kindnesses are few and far between in our increasingly cold, greedy and self serving population. Just ask the people who were pepper sprayed and beaten up over towels at Walmart on Black Friday. Towels, folks.

In a time when people use methods of self defense in order to buy the cheapest quality shit they can lay hands on, we should be grateful for each and every act of kindness we receive; regardless of that person's spirituality, looks, etc. If someone is willing to make eye contact and be warm, you've hit the momentary jackpot. Because personally - as someone who works as a lowest level employee in one of those evil banks right now (because I enjoy things like electricity and eating) and has at least a handful of people a week accuse me of personally stealing their money (in the form of fees) when they overdraft for my personal million dollar a year bonus - I don't say a damn word of holiday cheer. I don't need anymore dirty looks or ugliness to be tossed in my general direction and so, in true Grinch fashion, I'll only wish you a nice day. Which is truly, a bit sad.

So this year, while you're strung out on Starbucks and running a million and one errands to get yourself through the season with not a tear to be shed by anyone (including yourself) take into account that not everyone celebrates the same holidays (or celebrates your holiday for the same reason) as you. If someone wishes you a Happy Holiday/Merry Christmas/Wonderful Winter, sincerely thank them and move on with your day. I celebrate Yule, which will never, ever be something that I am wished a 'very merry' by in a public forum and I'm cool with that. And if I (and numerous other pagans/heathens/witches/etc) can be, then so can you.

Also, some more food for thought. This season, why don't we all take that 'Good will toward man' thing seriously. Because regardless of your religious belief, it's just a damn fine rule for being human! Let's put away the pitchforks and torches. Quit the mud slinging. And no one should be saying "Christ" or get the fuck out, like this asshat who clearly needs to pick up a history book and learn about the why's of certain traditions, symbols and phrases added to our country's wording:

I could say so many things about this, but Kallan over at The Secret Life of an American Working Witch has already cited enough references and reasons that this person should take down their sign and be ashamed - even outside of it just plain being an ugly sentiment. So I'll leave you with this - quit associating holly leaves (which I hold dear at this season) with your ignorance and learn to practice what Christ taught. Because, I doubt he'd be proud of you right now.

Finding the Yule Tree

2011-12-07T10:58:00.000-05:00

Strapped for time and in no mood to make the 1+ hour drive to North Carolina to cut my tree down myself, we visited a local family-owned tree stand to search for our first live Yule tree this past weekend. When we moved in together, I made up a silly rule that we couldn't have a real tree until we found Home. Now that we've done that, I was excited to go find our frasier fir!

Ignore the eye-bags of exhaustion, please.

Success! He's up and decorated, I just need to borrow a camera to snap some photos since the wee point and shoot won't focus on him. I think perhaps, we made him a bit too shiny. :)

At the end of the season, part of our tree will become our yule log for next year. And with that, the Yule preparations have begun at our house.

A Spa Adventure

2011-11-29T23:27:00.000-05:00

So, the other day I went to the spa for the first time. Ever. By some strange stroke of luck, I had won a gift package for a three hour session of pampering. Needless to say, I was sort of excited.

When I arrived I changed into a nice fluffy robe and slippers (after asking the nice man who showed me to the changing area exactly how naked I was supposed to get. Turns out? Totally.) and someone brewed me a pot of tea. I sat and sipped my tea in the little zen garden area, with its calming spa music and water feature fixating on the fact that I was completely naked under the nice fluffy robe. Naked, sipping tea? Ridiculous, unless I was in some sort of Edwardian romance novel; which I wasn't.

Luckily, I wasn't left to dwell on my tea drinking nudity for long before a wonderful lady whisked me away to get an hour long massage. Great gods above, have you ever laid in a bed with a built in warmer... naked? I want one of those things in my house. I'd never get out of bed again. Anyway, this being my first massage and my first time naked with a stranger who was not a physician even the heated bed couldn't totally relax me. But as soon as the massage therapist started rubbing whatever magical scented oil she had on my shoulders, my brain just shut off. And it was awesome. I didn't think about a damn thing the whole time. On top of that, not only could I feel each and every one of my muscles loosen and lose tension as she worked, I actually felt my spine straighten out. You see, as well as my eye and uterine ailments I also have scoliosis due to a difference in length in the bones of my legs, so I constantly feel - for lack of a better word - crooked. I was seeing a chiropractor for a while (despite several of them saying my back was sort of a lost cause unless I wanted surgery to even out my legs... uh, no.) to crack and adjust me to help with that feeling of being twisted. Well, I didn't enjoy the cracking so I quit going, but this massage thing? Glorious. And, when I mentioned to her that I thought I felt my spine shifting she explained that it was and why it was doing so.

Sadly, an hour is not nearly a long enough period of time for this sort of thing and before I knew it, I was done. I changed into my normal clothes and found myself back in the zen garden with a glass of wine waiting to be taken to my next destination on my spa adventure. But lo, before I could continue on my quest for relaxation I came across a woman who was not clad in nothing but a fluffy robe, sipping wine across from me. Like some hopped up housewife from those abysmal television shows she eyeballed me and asked "come here often?" I replied that this, in fact, was my first time. She gave me the once over, bright blue eyeshadow clashing with her dark rooted hair, and said "Oh. Get a gift card? Luckily for her and to my surprise... massages make this Jersey girl relatively docile. So rather than shoving her wine glass up her nose sideways I merely replied, "Why yes. My husband works for a multi million dollar international company who gave it to me for Christmas." (This is true to a point, I won it at last year's Holiday Party. Yes, it took me a year to use it.) As she fumbled for a response, another woman came out to lead me away to another room for my pedicure/manicure.

As my feet soaked and my hands were encased in wax, she and I had a good laugh about the bitch in the other room. Apparently, she's got a holier than thou attitude with any 'spa newbie' and is a lousy tipper. But, she buys a lot of shit so they let her keep coming back. Either way, here's the part that has flabbergasted everyone I've told. So, my feet were soaked and some delicious smelling mask was brushed onto them before they were wrapped in hot towels. While they were baking, she plucked, clipped and polished my toenails. She also took the wax off of my hands and plucked, clipped and polished my fingernails. And you know what? Manicures and pedicures are totally over-hyped. For two hours this woman worked on my hands and feet and I felt no more relaxed, pampered or different than I had beforehand.

Maybe it's just my super low maintenance personality? I mean, I hate shoes. I dislike shopping and if an outfit requires more thought than 'clean jeans and a tshirt' I probably won't like that either. But, I would never, ever pay to have a manicure or pedicure.

Now massages? Get me naked and give me that fluffy robe any day of the damn week. Mark that down, my birthday's in February. ;)

A wee sale

2011-11-26T21:32:00.001-05:00

Hello lovelies, it's been a while. I'm extremely pooped after a 40+ hour work week (I'm sure they love paying their part timer overtime.. ;-)) and a day that began at 4:30 this morning. It hasn't all been ho hum here though; Yule is starting to creep in. The village is coming along nicely and I made a wreath from those glittery ball ornaments. It was a good bit tougher than it looked to get them to lay right and look nice, but I'm pleased. I'll have some photos soon!

But in the meantime, you should consider taking a mosey on over to my Etsy shop and check out some of the new and old goodies that are on sale right now. Everything from original art to terrarium pendants to wands are currently 20% off with coupon code WINTER20 at checkout. I'll be spending a chunk of time tomorrow painting to get some new art up - in between napping and enjoying my day off, of course!

Gaining a Rhythm

2011-11-18T09:49:00.000-05:00

Now that the funk of the past few months has seemingly lifted its head for good and I'm beginning to settle into my new, currently crazy, work schedule I'm grasping for a rhythm of sorts. My mind is just a swirl of wants and needs, of the physical, spiritual and artful varieties, but for a while there I was having a hard time catering to any desire aside from sleeping and eating.

While I'm not typically one for routine, I feel that right now I need something like that to get me back to the way I was before I was walloped by apathy for several months. And so, I'm working it out and working on getting myself back into shape mentally and physically.

Each morning that I go into work a bit later, I exercise then brew myself a cup of coffee and pull a card from my Heart of Faerie Oracle Deck. I pay attention to any jumpers and if I feel the need to pull more than one card, I go with it. Through this exercise the Green Woman has been calling to me, showing up nearly every day for the past two weeks and always accompanied by an electric tingle of sorts as I view her. She, the Lady of the Greenwood, the wild feminine nature beckons to me and I will listen; for she is one that I have long wished to run with.

I make time to read each day as well, for pleasure, knowledge or growth. Frequently I find myself reading two or three books at a time and I've stopped trying to get out of the habit. Just a short while before the Green Woman began to show up in the cards I began to read The Women Who Run With the Wolves. I'm absorbing it slowly, reading one chapter at a time and taking the time to meditate on and digest it. Not even halfway through the first chapter it had grasped my heart and began to tug at it and tell if that it's come a long way in healing and it can reclaim itself fully; don't give up. In addition to that, I've been reading A Feast for Crows and am planning to begin Paul Huson's Mastering Witchcraft.

I've also been attempting to take the time to sketch each day, or at least work on something crafty at home. There's a recycled cereal box Yule village in the works that I hope to finish and display right after Thanksgiving, as well as some new spoon wands and pendants that I'll be listing in the shop shortly.

And that's my daily rhythm for now. Weekends and days off are a bit more free form; everyone needs to let loose and play sometimes, right?

Afternoon Sketches

2011-11-11T10:23:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned previously my work schedule has been chaotic and demanding as of late, leaving me very little motivation or time for making art. Which makes my heart sad. In order to remedy that and give myself some space to stretch my doodling fingers, I've been bringing my wee sketchbook, a mechanical pencil, a kneaded eraser and a micron pen to work each day to sketch on my lunch break if I feel so inclined. Some days, I sit and hold my pencil and nothing happens, so I end up reading for a bit instead.

But other times, wee critters and creatures just ask to come out and I feel obligated to help them out. There are just two of my sketches, the first being very quick and the second being done over a two break period and involving many erasures.

click to see him bigger on the flickr page.

This wee gnome, scooting about on his trusty steed, was sketched out in about 15 minutes. I'd like to give him some subtle color with pencils, but for now this is him in his sketchy glory.

This saucy fellow, on the other hand, took me 45 minutes or so over the course of two days. I couldn't quite remember how one held a pan flute and needed to reference photos and Pan kept nudging me in the ribs complaining that he wasn't sexy enough or this, that or the other thing wasn't quite right. It was this nudging that caused him to have goat pupils and acorns in his hair and is the reason he is looking pretty damn seductive. ;-) This one I'd like to watercolor, but since he's drawn on plain old fairly thin drawing paper, I'll need to print his sketch very lightly on watercolor paper and go to town. Once I get some ink.

Once they're done up properly, I'll be putting them in the shop. In the meantime, if anyone wants a print in their sketchy state (a bit more cleaned up, of course) let me know. I'm off to chow down my oatmeal, pack my sketch bag and head out to the grind. It's nearly Sunday and my day off; woo hoo!

The Witch's Circle: Spellwork

2011-11-08T10:57:00.000-05:00

This post is in response to a post of the continuing 'The Witch's Circle' discussions over at Aine's blog, The Deepest Well. To view her and the commenter's thoughts on spells, click here. To read about The Witch's Circle and add your ideas for discussion, click the dancing witches image below.

Wingardium Leviosa! A spell from the Harry Potter stories and honestly one of the ones I wish I could use in real life. The only one I wish for more? Riddickulous! Who doesn't want to turn their biggest fear into something inane and, well, ridiculous?

Spell work is a very real part of my path and I by no means intend to make a mockery of this practice with my references to Harry Potter. Quite the contrary. I loved the approach to spell work in the books and movies because they demonstrate the very basis of what I believe spell work to be: Intention. You have to want and believe in the outcome of your work or all of the wand waving, chanting and herbal concoctions will be useless. More spells are killed off before they've even begun by witches who don't have the confidence or belief needed to bring them to fruition.

If all one needed to do to work with the energies of the spirits, elements and universe was point a wand and say 'I want x,y or z!' and it came to fruition everyone and their dog would be wearing a pointy hat, carrying sticks and the world would go mad. Luckily, for all of our sanity, it's not that simple. That being said however, it is not a terribly difficult feat either for one who truly wishes to learn and to practice.

A spell, in its simplest form, is a petition to whatever energies you work with. I think of prayer, in its way, as a form of spell work. A spell can be as simple as lighting a candle or setting up an offering, inviting the spirits to sit and hear you out and speaking plainly, all the while keeping your intent strong and true. It can be as elaborate as setting and casting a full circle on a specific day of the week, during a particular planetary time and having specific herbs, incenses and candles to burn while reciting a chant or poem. The important thing is to follow your intuition. If you plan an elaborate spell (or a simple one) and you feel an overwhelming desire to change plans? Go with your gut. Again, it's not always in the how, but in the why. Of course, if you are disrespectful to the spirits or using magic for solely selfish purposes the amount of faith or conviction you have in the spell work may not make a difference and it will die off.

Are there other rules that govern spell work? I believe that depends on each Witch's individual path and tradition. I'm sure we've all heard of and know the Three-fold law and The Wiccan Rede, "And ye harm none, do what ye will." I am not a wiccan and do not follow the rede. To me binding , banishing or blocking something or someone on the magical plain is no different than getting a security system, a retraining order or other means of protection here on the physical one. And while typically I try to live a life in which I don't needlessly harm others if a time comes when someone or something threatens myself or my loved ones I will not hesitate to do what is necessary to protect us. The reality is that sometimes life gets dirty and ugly and one needs to fight back by whatever means they have; in my case I will not hesitate to turn to spell work.

Does this make me or others who feel similarly 'evil'? I don't believe so. No more evil than a mother bear protecting her young. I do not act recklessly or without forethought, I have never performed spells in a blind rage - although I have been sorely tempted. It all comes back to that one word, intent. For intent does not just apply to what you wish to do, but also to your state of mind when you act.

Prepping for Winter

2011-11-07T10:11:00.001-05:00

Sounds a bit silly, saying we're preparing the yard for winter what with this still being just a smidge of our back garden:

Don't mind the crazy colors, it's just me and my old point and shoot for a bit. My DSLR continues to be too expensive to fix.

But it's true. This month, my only days off from work will be Sundays and Thanksgiving and since I get home at dark-o-clock each night, I plan to spend those days off outside. We began yesterday by pulling all the weeds that had crept up and nestled along the foundation of the house and trimming back the hedges closest to the walls to make some space. We checked for any mouse holes (found one!), cracks in the mortar, soft spots, etc.

While I was deep into the plants and shrubs, I kept an eye out for ripe rose hips. I found, literally a hand full. The majority of them are either still in bloom or green, despite us having a few frosts. This is the first time I've ever harvested them fresh and I could use some advice on drying them and using them for tea. *wink wink*

Then we wanted to take care of our trees. We went around to all of the trees, checking their roots for any damage and pulling any suckers that had landed and begun to sprout from their bases. We pruned any extraneous growth and dead branches to help our trees focus their energy on strong healthy branches. There are several trees in our yard that are a hot mess, and I feel terribly for them. Our largest bradford pear has big beautiful branches that end in harsh square stumps and oddly shaped offshoots where the previous owners cut branches up. I can only assume the tree had gotten too wide and rather than take the branch at the base, they chopped it off in the middle. Luckily, it's a forgiving tree and didn't drop any large branches on my head while I attempted to prune back the dead stuff.

I wish I could say the same for our huge birch tree. It seemed to take great pride in letting large branches that were trapped in its canopy fall on us. Normally, it's a pleasant tree it just didn't seem to take to well to sharp objects.

The fruit trees gifted me with some sturdy branches for me to turn into things, the apple gave two and the pear gave one. Our pear trees are also a bit mangled from poor attention, having grown two or three large vertical leaders, which fused with each other and several horizontal branches in such a manner that I'd actually be terrified to try to remove any of them. I can just hope that with someone keeping up with their pruning from here on out, that they will grow healthier and reward me with juicy pears.

We called it a day after that, as our backs were hurting and it was getting dark fast. I went to bed and woke up sore, but it's the sort of sore I'm happy to bear; the sort that comes from a good day's work. We've got a few more things to do around the yard before winter comes and I plan to enjoy every single bit of it. Tending my patch of earth, getting down in the dirt and taking care of its inhabitants is not only something that ties into my spiritual beliefs, but brings me great joy. To bond with our trees, to leave offerings by their roots for the spirits, fae and local squirrels, to cultivate our own patch of green space to produce food; these things are simple magic to me.

Speaking of simple magic, after work on Saturday the dude took me to a salvage lot where a man and his family take all manner of lovely old things from homes that are going to be destroyed and keeps them on his farm to sell to folks who can use and love them. Joe was there a few weeks ago and wanted to go back to get some old 2"x10" boards to use for our bar counter tops. He also just wanted me to see it, because I love old stuff. He got his boards but I won the old stuff lottery. Not only did he gift me with all the old iron nails from the boards (who but a witch gets excited about these things?) but I found two old antique six pane windows with no glass that I plan to hang on the walls, for $4 each! I'm not sure if I will put photos into either one, but I know for sure one of them is going to get draped in ivy and touched by moss and mushrooms and hung in our bedroom. As if that wasn't enough, I also found these:

Two small iron keyhole covers. I'll be using one on my grimoire in the future and the other? I'm not sure yet. But I just had to have them.

How was your weekend, lovelies?

P.S. New things are coming to the shop this week! So, feel free to stop in periodically and take a peek. :)

Dia De Los Muertos

2011-11-02T22:10:00.000-04:00

On this Dia De Los Muertos, do not mourn for those that have passed beyond the veil, for they would not want you to weep. Instead, honor the lives they lived and the legacies they left behind. Call them to you, to share in your supper or to enjoy a favorite song. They say the joy is in the living; today, remember to do so.

Give those who have passed your thoughts today and give time to those still here; for all of us will join those gone one day. Dia de los Muertos is not a time for sadness, it is a time to remember. So share the stories of those whose graves you may visit, or whose memories you may keep with those who bring you joy. Give your lover a whirl, your family kisses, your best friend or arch enemy a call.

For today is not only for the dead. It is for those of us who are still here. A reminder in bright flowers and painted skulls to take joy and appreciate our time here on this lively green planet.

Today I honor my grandparents who passed on before I had the chance to know them. Bill and Kathy, a friend's parents who so many of us thought of as nearly our own. Friends who were gained and lost throughout the years, who passed suddenly and too young. Joe's grandparents whom he loved fiercely, but I was never able to meet (though he says I would have loved them!). I honor those even further back, the great and great-great and beyond grandparents and ancestors whose names I've never known.

Today, I honor all of you. The family that makes me laugh, cry, scream and love; my parents, brothers, sister, aunts and grandmother. The husband who picked me, the broken and lost, of all the women in the world to love; who has helped me heal and become not only the woman I was meant to be, but the child I lost somewhere in those terrible teenage years. The friends who have been by me from the very start; the ones who stood by me that first day of school 23 years ago despite my mismatched socks and still love that they never match. And you, the witchy women and sisters who have taught me, supported me, befriended me and loved me over these past few years. My tribe. If ever we were to meet, mountains would move for us. I just know it.

Feliz Dia de los Muertos, loves.

Review: To Join the Lost

2011-11-01T00:00:00.003-04:00

To Join the Lost by Seth Steinzor

About this book:
Seth Steinzor has written a latter-day version of Dante's Inferno. In this, the first of his three-part transformation of the Divine Comedy, contemporary sinners are treated to terrifyingly contemporary variations on the torments of the original Nine Circles of Hell. The book will be of great interest not only to Dante scholars and students but also to the general public, since its depictions of the Nether World are graphic and offered with all the gusto, indignation, immediacy, and not infrequent humor of Dante's original. The follies and excesses of the modern world have never been more clearly defined and excoriated.

Having tried and been unsuccessful at reading all of Dante's Divine Comedy, I decided to give this modern day re-write a shot. I was immediately intrigued by two things that happen immediately; our traveller, Seth meets up with Dante (yes, that Dante) who will be his guide through the nine levels of Hell. Secondly, Seth is not a medieval Christian, as his predecessor and guide was, but describes himself as a "Twentieth Century secular Jewish Buddhist". It makes for an interesting read, knowing that someone of this nature will be traveling through the depths of the very Christian hell.

The book is a brilliant work of poetry and imagery. Steiznor's writing is lyrical and you really get dragged down and sucked in by his prose. I found that not only was I captivated but also mildly horrified at how appropriate some of the changes to the story of the original were. Even without reading the original work, many of us are familiar with some of the images and characters found there; such as Charon the ferryman, who ferries the souls across the river and King Minos who judges and throws the damned to their eternal fates. Minos has been replaced in our age by a corporate office, one of those soul sucking cubicle sorts, which just smacks of sarcasm and made me chuckle despite myself.

It's not all witty and amusing though, as the poem shines a bright light onto the ever present and seemingly ever growing amount of evil that is present in our modern society. There are the obvious, universally recognized Damned such as Hitler and then there is a cast of Damned from Seth's own past. It is these Damned that pulled mightily on my heart strings, for it takes a lot of courage to not only face the demons from your past, but to shine the light on them and their deeds in such a public forum.

To Join the Lost is, again, a wonderful piece of writing. It is far beyond what I imagined a modern day retelling of the Inferno to be and is beautifully composed. The mix of personal stories and universal ones is nothing short of brilliant. I can say with absolute certainty that I am looking very forward to Seth's travels through Purgatory and Paradise after having read about his journey through Hell.

To read what others thought of this work, please click the image above. Thank you to Trish at TLC book tours and Seth Steiznor for the review copy of this book.

To visit the author's website, click here.

Blessed Samhain

2011-10-31T18:04:00.000-04:00

On this night of thinning veils, pumpkins light the way and spirits come to call. The wind blows brisk and chill and the leaves have mostly fallen. The Earth goes to her rest as the plants die back and animals prepare to slumber.

The Crone begins her reign over this, the introspective and dark time of the year. This is a time of mysteries, of journeys and of self discoveries for those willing to face the darkness. This is a time of dying and letting go, but also of new beginnings and growth. For as in all cycles and circles, here on Samhain night, you will find balance.

May those who are here and those who have gone before us be muchly blessed as the wheel is begun anew. On this night of beginnings and endings, may you find that which your heart is seeking and let die that which you no longer need. Samhain blessings, my loves.

The Day Before Halloween

2011-10-30T19:03:00.000-04:00

We're only a day away from the last night of the best month of the year. I have no idea where this month went, I sort of feel like I blinked and missed the whole thing! I haven't been keeping up as well with my countdown as I would have liked, but I've been doing little things nearly every day. We've watched movies, read stories, tried a few different seasonal beers, and have been taking evening walks beneath the flaming trees (on the nights I get home before the moon is out, that is.)

Yesterday we hosted our annual Halloween party, the first ever in our new home. It was a pretty small crowd, because some folks had previous arrangements and others were sick, but it was a great time! I spent the afternoon chopping, baking and pureeing pumpkins to make soup and baked the seeds with cayenne pepper and salt. Both things turned out great!

The table was set with all manner of treats and drinks and barely a thing was left at the end of the night! We played a rousing game of Apples to Apples that lasted for several hours, it was nearly 3am and Joe and I were falling asleep in our chairs by the time we finished up and our guests were on their way.

Tonight, we'll be carving our annual jack-o-lanterns and I'll finish getting my altar ready to celebrate Samhain after the candy guzzling ghosts and goblins have stopped knocking on my door tomorrow evening. We spent entirely too much money on candy so I hope there's are hordes of them, otherwise my plan for weight loss may be in serious trouble!

The Witch's Circle: Commitment

2011-10-26T10:50:00.001-04:00

This post is in response to the first post of the continuing 'The Witch's Circle' discussions over at Aine's blog, The Deepest Well. To view her thoughts on commitment, click here. To read about The Witch's Circle and add your ideas for discussion, click the dancing witches image below.

Beginning to walk this crooked path was, I believe, a bit easier for me than it is for a lot of people. I was raised in a home with no formal religion; my parents both claim to have religious belief, my father being catholic and my mother just having faith, but they never discussed or passed those beliefs on to us. We didn't go to church, were never baptized, never were expected to follow any religion in particular. It was all very... sterile, I suppose. Growing up, I did a lot of reading about religions, I devoured holy texts as well as books from the new age sections. The librarians at the school and local libraries must have thought I would grow up to become a philosophy teacher, because why else would a kid be checking out these sorts of books over the usual popular fiction?

The truth of the matter was, not only was I curious, but I was searching. I had friends with deep religious convictions and friends with deep convictions that there is nothing out there; none of their philosophies clicked with me. Having grown up feeling like there was something out there, something in the tree line, something in the heavens, that watched over me and guided me on occasion I just couldn't say 'nothing exists but science.' By the same token however, none of the major world religions resonated with me; my Irish Catholic grandmother telling me french kissing would put you in hell along with rapists and murderers scared me shitless, sure, but it also sounded like unfit justice all around. The thought of karma, that unbiased cosmic bitch who delivers justice, rang a bell of sorts within me but it still wasn't enough.

The place where I found that which began to wake up my soul, was in the dusty pages of long neglected books of mythology. The Greek gods began it, and I fell asleep most nights praying to the Olympians, always beginning and ending with Hestia. Shortly thereafter a friend gifted me a deck of tarot cards and in my studies of them I came across the first books I had ever seen on Wicca. I began to devour book after book on the subject, everything from Cunningham to Ravenwolf, whatever I could find in the libraries and shops. Remember kids, this was during the dark ages before the internet and during the internet's first dial up baby steps - internet research wasn't a possibility like it is now. While they clicked to a point, they still weren't quite what I was looking for. I continued my search and years later discovered works on witchcraft, paganism and the many different traditions there in. I met the gods of the Celtic Pantheon as well as the lord and lady of the Greenwood and there, my loves, is where I found the beginnings of this dusty winding path and made my commitment to grow, learn and practice.

Unlike so many, I didn't have anything that I needed to give up to make way for a new, undiluted spiritual path. I was well read, but without prior biases. Making the commitment was not a tough choice for me and still is not. Though I didn't have any prior attachments to faith to work through or renounce, there were other sacrifices that came along with donning the green mantle. Friends were lost or estranged and there are many times that I have to bite my tongue to keep certain peaces. There are still moments of nagging self doubt, brought on by the difficulty or inabilities I have when trying to do certain things (like meditate; which seems so very basic.) or when I feel disconnected from the deeper parts of my path due to long boughts of depression or apathy (re: the past four months) but I know that I've made the commitment to walk this path. By continuing to learn and practice, to not give up on the things that I have difficulty in, by tending my patch of earth, by getting up each morning to face the day despite the shit in my head, I know that I am honoring my path.

The Carolina Renaissance Festival

2011-10-25T18:44:00.000-04:00

This past Sunday found us back at the Carolina Renaissance Festival for the second time. It was an odd occasion however, because for the first time in the 12 years I've been going to Ren Faires, I went dressed as... a tourist! You know, those people who were modern day clothes? ;-) All of my costumes were made for a Ren Faire in August and last year I was pretty damn cold in my Green Woman costume, so I took the route of warmth.

Only, much to my dismay, it was a warm day! Le sigh. The one thing that I was fairly amused by was the fact that the vendors tried 10x harder to get me to buy their stuff while I was wearing my regular clothes than they ever have while I'm in costume. Silly.

That all being said though, we had a fantastic time! We ran into some of the performers we met wandering around last year and saw some of the shows we missed out on last time. It was also brew fest weekend, where they were serving the winning home brew fromt his year's competition all week long; a delicious stout named The Wife's Wish that I may have had several helpings of!

This fellow, whose name I do not know, was so enchanting! Every time we passed him he would say hello and play us a quick tune on the harp.

We saw the acrobatic troupe, Barely Balanced, who are as witty as they are talented.

We happened across the Jamila Lotus Dance Carnivale during our wanderings and I was mesmerized by the music, as well as the skeleton masks the women had donned. The best way I can describe the music is folky, gypsy, tribal wonderfulness! They played only a violin and a drum and if it they had sold CDs, I would have snatched one up in a heartbeat.

And, as if belly dancing to this captivating and mysterious music wasn't enough, there was also a breathtaking aerial part of their performance:

We happened across the four seasons:

And enjoyed the Celtic folk stylings of the Maidens IV:

We caught a few acts put on by the bawdy and oh so naughty Tortuga twins:

And, just as we were preparing to leave we caught sight of the ever so enchanting Twig the Fairy, who was perched on some toadstools with her friend and fairy in training, Zinnia.

I was remiss and missed getting a photo of the two of them together, but Zinnia was kind enough to compliment me on my wee pumpkin necklace and show it to Twig. Who, in true fairy fashion, played me a wee tune on her pipes. There is no greater sign that you've done tiny and magical right than the approval of a real life fairy!

Alas, the whole weekend was not all ale, music and fairy dust. Saturday afternoon, the day before we went to the Renaissance Faire, I came home to discover a tragedy had occurred while I had been working. There, on the floor of my mess making lair, lay my beloved DSLR camera as if someone had picked it up and placed it there. From the books and papers accompanying it in it's sad position however, I knew it had taken a cat induced fall from the desk and a wee goblin had not been in to play tricks.

I cradled it in my arms and flipped the switch but nothing happened. I tried a new battery, memory card and lens just to be sure, but still nothing happened. Sadly, I bundled it up and took it to the camera shop to be told they do a 6- 7 week turn around send out service, but the minimum for Canon to look at my camera is $200 - $250, before the parts and labor required to fix whatever the problem may be. I'm not exactly rolling in extra money, so it will be a while before my beloved camera is back to functioning. My brother was kind enough to lend me his camera to take to the faire though, so I could get better shots than my very old point and shoot would allow me to take. If you want to see more shots of the Faire, you can view the Flickr set here.

The Witch Queen's Ball

2011-10-21T21:00:00.000-04:00

Since times of old it has been known,
that round Hallowe'en night,
a ball is thrown.

The witch queen rises and calls to her side,
all those subjects wanting to have a grand time!

She sits upon her pumpkin throne,
watching the seeds of merriment sown.

The toadstool witch who had a mishap,
sits near her cauldron,
waiting for flies she can snap!

The goblins gather 'neath the old tree,
tricksy trio that they be,
near the old tombstone they wait,
to scare the pants off you and giggle with glee.

The lovers come forward aglow,
to ask of the queen her blessing to bestow,
for a wedding on this All Hallow's eve,
that they happily receive!

Elphaba stokes the fire,
as the pair declare their desire,
before their witchy sisters,
and goblin misters.

A ball to remember,
before cold November,
one of love and of light,
and of pumpkin delight!

Thank you for visiting my wee contribution of A Fanciful Twists Halloween party. To visit our host, the wonderfully wicked Vanessa and visit the other partiers, click here.

(Like I could resist one final silly photo!)

Party Preparations

2011-10-21T16:55:00.001-04:00

The girls and I are busily getting everything ready for Vanessa's Halloween to-do tomorrow. We're lighting the candles, spiking the cider, primping the pumpkins and calling in the ghosts to come and celebrate the coming of All Hallow's with us. We tried to find a new wicked girl to add to the group, but alas, at every turn we found that the shops have replaced the witches with Santas and the pointy hat wearers are gone for the season.

We're drowning our disappointment in tea leaves and Halloween music, like this:

Ichabod, Ichabod

2011-10-20T22:21:00.001-04:00

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow has always been one of my favorite ghost stories, particularly around All Hallows Eve, for as we know that's when the horseman rides!

What are your favorite ghost and/or Hallowe'en stories?

Collecting Leaves

2011-10-18T18:21:00.000-04:00

I can't resist the fiery colors of Autumn; the golds, reds and oranges that glow in the morning sunlight and swirl to the ground in the slightest breeze.

Seemingly every year I collect a few of the trees' dropped treasures and put them into one of my large books to safely keep the passion of this season alive for months and years to come.

I also seem to stick to a certain leaf shape each year. Once I find the first perfect specimen to save, I look for that shape in all different sizes and colors until I have half a dozen or more collected and ready to press.

This year, I'm thinking maybe I should do something with all of the lovelies I've collected, so I can enjoy Autumn all year long. But what to do? I've considered gathering the groups together in a frame, showcasing a duo or trio of the prettiest ones in various sizes, but am unsure if Id need to do more to preserve them than just stick them in there. Any ideas?

Pumpkins, Sea and a Full Moon

2011-10-17T00:19:00.000-04:00

Is there anything more magical at this time of year than pumpkins? I think not! Most of my best memories have happened in a pumpkin patch, including being proposed to, and Joe and I have made it sort of an unspoken tradition to go pumpkin picking on our anniversary. This year, we kept with tradition because we were lucky enough to find a place open on a Monday!

We wandered the patch area and the pre-picked areas, looking for this year's perfect pumpkins. Joe wanted a white one and I chose to stick with the traditional orange.

Once our future jack-o-lanterns were picked, paid for and loaded into the car we headed to one of my favorite places in NJ to visit my much beloved and sorely missed ocean. I'm still not used to being nearly 4 hours from the shore and unable to visit the sea more than once a year, if that. I'm a day tripping sort who wants to run to the ocean to sooth me in my many moods. So, what better place to go to celebrate our anniversary?

We spent a good portion of the afternoon roaming the boardwalk, taking in the sounds and smells of the sea shore before snagging lunch at one of the boardwalk eateries. I would have preferred to stop by the Wonder Bar for the sake of my ridiculous nature, but they don't have Monday hours. We walked in the surf, reveling in the chilly waters, collecting sea shells and for the first time in my life I was excited to see a seagull. I shit you not. We don't have seagulls this far inland in South Carolina and it's sort of weird to not see them all over the place like we did in New Jersey. Also, I haven't seen a deer in over a year despite living in a wooded area of the suburbs, but that's another story.

The random excitement of seagulls having passed, I could no longer ignore the fact that my sinuses felt like they were full of lead. We made the decision that I was hurting for some medication and a nap and grabbed a hotel room where I proceeded to swill some cough syrup (ick) and doze off until dinner time. We went back to downtown Asbury to eat before walking a few blocks back to the boardwalk and the ocean.

There is seriously nothing better than this place at night, except this place at night during a full moon.

As we walked the boardwalk hand in hand, we passed people snuggled on the benches enjoying the view as well as people heading to the beach talking about charging crystals by the full moon. Let me tell you, it was a breath of much needed normalcy for this Jersey native, you never hear that sort of thing down here! We became a pair of bench warmers ourselves for quite a while before I wandered down the beach. I walked to the place where earth and water meet, to greet the sea and the mother moon and speak softly with them for a few moments. Asking their blessing, I knelt and collected some water before rejoining my love on the boardwalk to head back to the hotel and fall into a peaceful, nyquil aided sleep.

Back in the South

2011-10-14T15:44:00.000-04:00

Our trip to the North, was as ever, way too short. This is the perfect time of year to be in New Jersey, with all the leaves in several shades of autumnal fire and it being chilly at night and warm enough during the day. *sigh* As per usual, I burst into tears as I crossed the Water Gap entering and leaving my dirty, beloved home state.

We totally lucked out and missed any and all manner of rain as well as managed to visit during an Indian Summer kind of weekend. We barely needed our jackets. I'm still getting situated now that we're back home and fighting off a nasty head cold that decided to take up residency in my sinuses on the second morning of our trip, but I'll sum vacation up with this; it was great to be home. I didn't get to see everyone or everything that I would have wanted to, but I don't regret a moment of our visit one bit.

I finally got to meet my niece, Khloe, who is a master at the arts of smiling and drooling. Like any good aunt, the first thing I did when I walked into the house was wake her up and give her toys. :) She also seemed to have an affinity for throwing up on Joe, poor guy.

Here's my kid sister, her kid and me, the old hag (har-har). What you can sort of see from the photo, is that we all look alike. It's a bit hard to tell with my sun bleached hair, Katherine's dyed hair and Khloe's lack of hair - but if you put our baby pictures together the only way to tell us apart would be to identify the time period of objects found with us in the photo.

The unfortunate side to seeing babies that are related to you however, is the flood of the 'when are you going to have one?' that inevitably follows. Family, if it isn't a cat or a dog, I'm not interested in taking care of it right now. But, I will hop your kid up on sugar and play and give them back to you if they stink, as my sister can attest to.

We also visited our friends in Hoboken, since the last time that I had seen them was over a year ago. We parked in the free parking where I've been parking for the past 4 years and Colleen made us an awesome brunch. We watched a movie and realizing we still had a few hours before we had to be anywhere, decided to go for a walk down by the river.

Now, for those who don't know, the husband loves to mess with me. Fairly often he comes up with stories and tries to pass them off on me as true. Because of this, I usually don't believe anything bad that comes out of his mouth. So, when we were walking past my car and he said 'There's a boot on the car!', I didn't believe him. Why should I? I've never so much as gotten a parking ticket before (because I'm awesome.)

But sure enough, the dude wasn't messing with me and there was a fucking boot on my poor car! Apparently, the side of the road that I always park on is the resident's only side but I somehow managed to never get ticketed in the past few years. Guess the out of state plate was a dead giveaway? So, my home state decided to give me some of their love for out of staters and I made Joe call to have the thing removed because I was ready to give them a piece of this Jersey girl's attitude. In other words, make things worse.

$218 later, we got a code, removed the boot, parked the car on the other side of the street, walked the hunk of metallic hell back to the parking devils and these two lovely people bought a few rounds of 'Screw Hoboken Parking' beers.

We went to a wedding, followed by another wedding. The first wedding was sort of a hit and run for us, which I feel bad about, but I was getting nailed with the onset of the sinus infection and felt like my head was full of cement. At the second wedding I ate my very first bite of haggis while people marveled over the dude's ridiculous beard.

We celebrated our third anniversary, which I will tell you more about later. For now, know it involved this:

some of these:

and collecting ocean water from my favorite place, beneath the full moon at the end of a day celebrating the love of a wonderful bearded dude and myself. If that isn't some super potent stuff, then I don't know what is.

I also became the first person I've ever known to travel 700+ miles for a haircut. We stopped to see my aunt, who has been cutting my hair since I was a wee teeny thing, and on the spur of the moment decided I wanted to chop it all off! So, she did and I was able to donate nearly a foot of hair (11.25") to Locks of Love, who makes wigs for children who have lost their hair due to various medical conditions.

In keeping with our Hallowe'en festivities, we picked our annual pumpkins, watched a movie, drank some pumpkin flavored beers, ate apple cider doughnuts with hot cider, picked up a jar of delicious pumpkin butter (if you haven't ever eaten this, you're missing out!), walked in some crunchy leaves, put my niece in her very first leaf pile which I was remiss and didn't take a photo of and visited the old cemetery where I did grave rubbings as a child and encountered my only ghostly happening. I'll share more about that later, for now I'm off to brew another pot of tea to keep this awful congestion/cough at bay, finish painting the lawn cutouts, break out the Halloween decorations (I'm so far behind!) and begin work on my grimoire. I finally found a suitable piece of oak board to use as my covers and want to get them cut down and hinged so I can begin to compile my pages, even if I haven't decided what will adorn the cover just yet.

What have you been up to, lovelies?

Love After Death

2011-10-13T10:27:00.000-04:00

To celebrate All Hallow's Grim, I decided to err on the side of dark romance. Having just celebrated my 3rd wedding anniversary to my favorite fella, I'm still feeling a wee bit mushy. What says love never dies better than two formerly living lovers being reunited in undeath? ;)

From The Crow, my favorite 'love story':

A building gets torched, all that is left is ashes. I used to think that was true about everything, families, friends, feelings. But now I know, that sometimes if love proves real, two people who are meant to be together, nothing can keep them apart.

If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn, people die, but real love is forever.

You can visit our Wicked Hostess Magaly and all the other Grim partiers by visiting Pagan Culture.

Three, it's the magic number.

2011-10-10T08:55:00.004-04:00

Three years ago today, a man who gave me a pumpkin filled with shine made an honest woman of me on a lakeside. He's hairy, ridiculous, loud, fun, supportive and my best friend. I don't know what my life would be like without him, but it definitely would not be the life I have now.

Though I sometimes want to pummel him, I love him more than I can really say. But that's marriage, right? ;-) Happy anniversary, you crazy man!

Homeward

2011-10-07T07:07:00.005-04:00

I'll be traveling North for a few days. I have a skeletal plan in place as to where I'll be, but honestly? We plan to turn our phones off and see where we end up. I anticipate salty wind in my hair, crisp mountain air in my lungs, meeting my niece, hearty laughter, a night of dancing, and a few ice cold pints.

I may or may not check in, though I have a post or two already set up. Much like this trip, I intend to play it by ear.

Hallowe'en, Back Then

2011-10-06T10:40:00.000-04:00

Via rich701 on Flickr.

For as long as I've been alive, and even before that, Halloween has always been given a certain amount of flack. You get those that say it glorifies the darkness (as if that's a bad thing), you get others that call it the Devil's holiday (though the only devils I've ever met on this day have been kids in costumes) and you get numerous others who worry about various terrible things befalling children on this night; razor blades in candy, axe murderers in the neighborhood, kidnappings... the list could go on and on.

For me, however, Hallowe'en has always been about fun. Who can help but love a holiday where you can be anything your heart desires, even if it's only for one night? Sure, some folks will say it's wrong for kids to want to be a witch or a vampire or anything under the sun for various reasons, really. And to them I say, 'pfft!'. I'll level with you all here; when I was a kid, I never dressed up as a witch. Not once. But, I still turned out to be one. A Hallowe'en costume is not a fated path, folks.

But I digress. This holiday is about letting loose, having fun and maybe getting some free candy while you're at it. It's about crawling through corn mazes, bobbing for apples, picking pumpkins and maybe giving yourself a scare or two, in the form of movies or haunted houses, just for fun! And it's all those things that make me nostalgic for the Hallowe'en I remember growing up with.

Found on Wikimedia Commons

Every year, every house in my neighborhood would decorate their yard and home in preparation of the upcoming parade of ghoulish candy seeking goblins. Some folks were more elaborate, building entire graveyard sets or haunted paths, while others settled for a few leaf bags in the shape of pumpkins or paper ghosts in the trees. The point is, not a single house went without a pumpkin, at the very least. It was magical to walk through the neighborhood to see what lie in store for us at the end of the month, while we pondered what we were going to be this year.

When the night finally came all the neighborhood kids would get together. Those who were too young to wander unsupervised would all pile in the back of someone's huge SUV or truck to be taken around by some of the parents while the older kids raced from house to house, using a strategic plan that would net them the best candy. Because as we all know, the houses that give out full size bars are always best! Only once or twice did we come across a house without the front light on, or a bowl that was devoid of candy sitting on the porch. Folks would compliment us on how scary, creative or pretty our costumes were as they handed out our sugar laden treasure and we'd frequently take breaks on the curb sides to nibble away bits of our well earned loot.

At the end of the night we'd all trundle back to our parents, at whichever house they had gathered at, swap our favorite candies, give mom and dad a piece or two before drifting off to bed with visions of goblins floating in our heads.

Now it seems that magic is starting to die off, which seems strange to me considering how open minded we've become since my childhood and the fact that in a lot of places, child related crimes have *decreased* not increased. Kids go to parking lots or malls to 'trick or treat', parents vigilantly check candy packages for pins, needles and all manner of horrific things and toss away any home made treats the kids may have gotten along the way. Many a house is devoid of pumpkins, paper ghosts and candy, many choosing to leave their lights off on Hallowe'en night. Of the houses that do put their lights on, there is always at least one or two who hand out Chick Tracts or other pamphlets letting children know that celebrating this holiday will land them a one way ticket to Hell. I often wish people would tell me where these folks lived, so I could have a little heart to heart with their crazy asses; I can think of no greater evil that exists on Hallowe'en night than the attempt to terrify children into your way of thinking.

When I walk the neighborhood, with the leaves crunching underfoot thinking about my Hallowe'ens past I get angry and then I get sad. I get angry that despite great leaps and bounds for us in some areas, we are back peddling about a secular holiday. Yes, as a witch I celebrate Hallowe'en and Samhain as two separate entities - one for the love of fun and the other for the love of my Gods and honored dead. I worry that soon the magic of this holiday will only remain in the hearts of we grown children and will be lost entirely on current and future children. And I can think of nothing more heart-rending than the loss of this long celebrated, wonderful night.

Via IMLS DCC on Flickr.

Hat tip to Lyn at Witch Blog and her recent guest poster, Grandfather Oak for stirring the Hallowe'en memory Cauldron for me and inspiring this post.

Work in Progress Wednesday - Cutouts

2011-10-05T21:14:00.001-04:00

You can get a good idea of how my sketches evolve here, by checking out the two tone chalk lines. I'm way too big a tree hugger to print out huge stencils to just use once.

Since we've never had a yard to decorate before, I have nada in the lawn decoration department. So, with a hearty hat tip to Martha Stewart for the idea, I've decided to put myself out in the front yard along with some friends.

Get it? ;)

The paint is still tacky on the first half of the cats, so I doubt I'll be able to finish them and put them out before we head off for a few days on Friday morning. But, they'll be outside and set up soon enough either way.

Cinnamon Spice

2011-10-04T10:36:00.000-04:00

Starting my morning out right as often as I can, I like to sit out on my patio with a cup of fresh brewed coffee and whatever I happen to be reading at the moment. It's been even better lately as the leaves fall from my big birch tree and swirl around me, while the squirrels hop about the yard foraging and the crows caw over head. So, how could I improve on it any more than that? With a big old cup of cinnamon spiced coffee in my favorite mug of all time. Here's how I make my yummy treat, in case any of you may want to try it.

Cinnamon Spice Coffee:
* First I add my coffee grounds as usual - I use one Tbsp for every 1 cup of water.
* Then, I add 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon to the grounds for every 1 Tbsp of coffee. If you're using a bold coffee the cinnamon flavor is sort of mild, if you're using a medium coffee the flavor is a bit more noticeable. You can tweek how much you add based on your taste preference.

- Now, people have asked me why I brew the cinnamon through the filter with the grounds and the answer is simple enough. If you sprinkle cinnamon into your coffee, it will either float on top or sink to the bottom. It is very difficult to get it to dissolve properly and you really don't get the nice cinnamon flavor from it that you're probably going for.-

* Brew coffee as usual and wait with anticipation!
* I then add my condiments. I use significantly less sugar when I brew this coffee than usual and add only a splash or two of milk.
* Top with whipped cream and sprinkle with nutmeg.
* Sit outside in the Autumn air and enjoy!

Pumpkins, Movies and Tea - Oh My!

2011-10-03T20:33:00.000-04:00

Oh, October, you cheeky minx! You've managed to perk me up so much that I had to practically force myself to sit down to upload photos and visit my own cottage. The house is still being cleaned, the art has been slow going but is still poking its head up more than it was and I had to pry myself off the patio this morning long after my coffee had magically vanished to get to work by the skin of my teeth.

Not to mention the fact that I got off my broom sitting behind and actually went for (wait for it) a run this morning! For those of you who don't know, I am in no way shape or form a runner. I have some crabby knees already at the ripe old age of 28 and I will always choose to walk quickly over running. But for whatever reason, when I woke up this morning I was practically buzzing with energy and my legs wouldn't hear of a quiet sit down until they had worked off some of their restlessness.

Somehow during all of this, I managed to get out and do some festive things! And so, my loves, I present to you my first three days of Hallowe'en. In pictorial form, of course!

On the First Day of Hallowe'en,

We visited Oktoberfest, where one year ago exactly we met a realtor who became a friend and began the search for our home.

On the Second Day of Hallowe'en,

We took a stroll through the park. The first since Joe broke his foot; he is doing worlds better now, thank you for the well wishes! After which we stopped at the local tea bar for, you guessed it, a hot cup of pumpkin spice tea.

On the Third Day of Hallowe'en,

I broke out the beginnings of the decorations and did up the mantle! Some of the things on here were made for me by other artists, such as the grinning pumpkin man, the witch tin and the Halloween house. While some of these things stay out all year, grouping them all together and adding a few extras just makes my Autumn heart happy.

It's actually been cool enough down here that I've pulled the comforter out and put it on the bed so we can snuggle down each night in our chilly bedroom, sometimes after having watched a seasonal movie. The weather man tells me it's supposed to get back up into the 80's later this week, I couldn't help but frown at him. Summer's had her reign (since March!), it's time to let Autumn play. Bugger off, hot days! ;)

P.S. So far, we've watched two movies to kick off the Halloween season. Here are their trailers, for those who may be curious:

Tucker and Dale VS Evil

Trollhunter

What are some of your favorite movies to watch at this time of the year?

Hello, October!

2011-10-01T21:21:00.010-04:00

It's finally here, the most magical time of the year!

Let's pick our pumpkins,

Call on some witches,

and prepare to dance with the Man in the Moon!

Happy October, may your days and nights be filled with merriment, magic and candy corn dreams!

Work in Progress Wednesday: Autumn Cleaning

2011-09-28T10:45:00.001-04:00

A lot of people do their annual giant house cleaning in the Spring, but not me. For as long as I can remember, I have always preferred the task of rummaging, organizing, tossing and cleaning in Autumn. I started the massive undertaking on Monday, starting with a few random unpacked boxes and then tackling my closet and tossing anything that doesn't fit or I just know I'll never wear again into bags to be donated. Between yesterday and today I've been sorting through the boxes of stuff in the closets and decided to finally attempt to put the last several years worth of photos into some semblance of order. As you can see in the photo up top, it hasn't been a short and sweet process.

Once I'm done decluttering and gutting the closets, it will be time to scrub everything down and give the house one hell of a spiritual cleansing and blessing. While I do these several times a year, once again, Autumn is the time that I do my main one.

Who else gets these almost manic boughts of clean-fever this time of year? I know I'm not alone!

P.S. I've added everyone who has commented that they're participating in my blog party to the sidebar and the original post. October's nearly here!

Autumn Blessings

2011-09-23T23:12:00.000-04:00

The Leaving 8x10 Watercolor

As the wheel turns and the days grow shorter, give thanks for the abundances of the bright days. The harvest, the sun's warm embrace, the fireflies and traditions of Spring and Summer. This is the time of the God's departure into the darkness, the time of the wise Crone. May we find the courage and convictions to look into our own darkness, to sit with her and learn from her wisdoms.

May the harvest bounty be plenty, your blessings be many. May you and yours have nothing but things to be thankful for, here, someplace between the dark and the light. Mabon blessings, lovelies.

A Tourist Escape

2011-09-20T10:57:00.000-04:00

Coming off the tale end of the great summer funk (as I am now calling it because of it's unseasonal appearance and length), the dude and I decided to take a quick weekend trip across the border into Asheville, NC.

As we drove North into the mountains I could feel a weigh lifting off of me. Mountains, like the ocean, are one of the few things that will chase my depression off like a thief in the night. Getting into town and just spending a day doing touristy things, laughing, window shopping, trying a few different beers and not having a worry in the world were just the icing on the cake.

First thing we did was roll up to the visitors center and hop onto one of their shiny bright red trolleys. Not only was the tour interesting but it offered hop off/hop on service at several places around the city. We totally took advantage of that, since Joe's foot is still not completely healed and feeling great.

We saw some interesting architecture.

Visited some arts and crafts shops.

Met some interesting characters.

Found an excellent pub...

..and a drawing model of a dinosaur.

While our original intention was to go apple picking on Sunday, Joe's foot was hurting (despite his best efforts to pretend he wasn't limping) so we took a quick peek at Biltmore Village before any of the shops opened up before heading home.

I needed this wee escape more than I realized but while I feel way more relaxed and peaceful than I have in months, I'm still not looking forward to going back to work today. You can't win them all! ;-)

A Fanciful Halloween Party

2011-09-19T10:40:00.000-04:00

I'm not the only one in the land of Blog who is getting excited, even giddy, over the upcoming Halloween season! The very talented creatrix behind A Fanciful Twist, Vanessa Valencia, is also having a Halloween bash! Won't you come with me as I join her and a host of other bloggers on October 22 for a frollic under the Autumn sky? Click the banner above to go to the party post and snag your own invite!

P.S. There's still plenty of time to join my Countdown to Hallowe'en party, just click on the button in my right sidebar to visit the post and comment, letting me know you want in! When you look at the sidebar in question, you may see a few more Halloween party buttons have sprouted up! I'm sure they'll continue to multiply as the month progresses, so please feel free to check those shindigs out as well!

The 2011 Countdown to Hallowe'en

2011-09-16T11:09:00.016-04:00

It's that time of year again lovelies. Where the leaves rustle, the chilly winds whisper. When pumpkins and hot cider are much beloved. Witches fly and goblins frolic. Halloween approaches in all of it's marvelous, sometimes mischievous, glory.

Time we got out our broomsticks and candlesticks and tell each other spooky stories around the fire. And, because so many of you played along and I had so much fun last year, I'm throwing another Countdown to Hallowe'en blog party this year! If you missed it last year, here's what you need to know to play along:

Do something Autumny or Halloweeny every day throughout the month of October, ending with the big event on the 31st. It need not be anything difficult or eleborate, just a little something to get you in the spirit. Share what you've been up to on your blogs either daily, every few days, weekly.. whenever you're able! All I ask is you have a maniacally good time!

Some ideas for activities:
Go pumpkin or apple picking
Carve Jack-o-Lanterns
Make seasonal snacks and meals
Hit up a local corn maze
Read a scary story
Watch a scary (or not so scary) movie
Get a group of friends together and tell ghost stories
Make a big leaf pile and jump on in!
Collect and identify fallen leaves
Create a witches bottle
Create your own Samhain candles or incense
Share costume ideas
Create Halloween inspired crafts
Decorate your home room by room and share your decor with us!
Make bewitching cocktails with friends
Participate in any number of Halloween blog parties going on right now... ;o)

and...
Anything else you can conjure up! Large project or small, it all counts!

Let me know if you'll be playing along and I'll add your name and blog link to this post and to my right sidebar! If that sounds like a fiendishly good time to you please feel free to grab the button off of my sidebar and add it to your blog linking back to this post.

Participants!

Olde Baggs and Stuft Shirts
The Happy Heathen
Confessions of a Country Witch
Pagan Culture
Wandering a Wise Woman Path
A College Girl's Days
The Deepest Well
Pagan By Design
Shadowed Paths
Tabby's Place
Krystyl Ravyn's Eclectic Cupboard
The Mortician's Wife
Marlene Dotterer
From the Mind of Alpha Betsy
Aux Demilunes
Vivien's Vault
Adventures of the Kitchen Witch
Having Written
Burning Moonlight
The White House
Star Cats Love
Enchanted Awakenings
Dancing Barefoot
A Witch in the Tea Closet
Lonely Paper Designs
The Kitchen Witch Wears Prada
K. Michelle Creations
Amethyst and Lily Pads
Green Witch with Sprinkles
I Hope They Have Pudding
Diggin' Around
Seasife Diaries of a Kimberline
An English Witchery
Lula Pomme!
Wiccan Writes
Cries From the Stream of Consciousness
Sandy Sandy's Weblog
Laughing Vixen Lounge
A Tiny Cottage on Grand
By The Broomstick
Pieces of Fate
The Haven
Witch Blog
69 Shots of Gasoline
'Round the Faerie Ring
The Hippie Witch
By Land, Sky and Sea
Mama's Thyme

I'll be checking in with all of you throughout the month and see what sort of mischief you've gotten yourselves into! Let the countdown begin!

Work in Progress Wednesday: Wee Pumpkins

2011-09-14T17:27:00.000-04:00

These little buggers were extremely hard to photograph, even with my macro lens. The largest one is less than 1/4 on an inch. What am I doing with the babies? Why, making pendants, of course! Who doesn't want a wee pumpkin patch they can bring everywhere with them?

P.S. We've started a gaming group with a few of our friends. We meet every Wednesday and play Dungeons and Dragons, which I have never played before despite desperately wanting to! The boys I grew up with who played had a strict 'no girls allowed!' policy and as such, with my being a girl and all, I was never invited to play. We're into our third week and I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of all the dice rolling and stats and stuff, so I can put a little more thought into actually playing my character. So far, I'm really enjoying it! The boys should all be over soon enough, so I should probably work on getting my tail offline. ;)

P.P.S. Thank you all for the comments and visits during the gypsy party! I'm still working my way around the circle of lovely wagons and tents, so if I haven't gotten to you yet don't fret I'll visit soon!

Gypsy Dreams

2011-09-09T21:33:00.000-04:00

Come hither to my gypsy home,
where banners fly,
and faeries do roam.

Here time does slow,
and stress does flee,
allowing your dreams to flow fast and free.

We sing our songs by candle's light,
Old tales and new mix,
as our hearts take flight.

Slow your rhythm as best you are able,
the faeries are calling,
come join me now at my gypsy's table.

With a jingle and a ring,
and a bit of a shuffle,
the cards lay ready to sing.

A special message just for you,
They tell of your fortune,
They bring your future in view.

A journey lie ahead,
filled with blessings and bliss,
to see other gypsies,
whose parties you won't want to miss!

The Queen says you must be leaving,
For more fun lie ahead,
But don't let your heart go grieving,
Help yourself to a rose instead!

Thank you so much for visiting my contribution to the Gypsy Dreams blog party hosted by Celia. To visit all our gypsy sisters and friends, click here.

Jingles, jangles and tons of bangles! Sweet (gypsy) dreams, my lovelies!

P.S. I'm not even going to lie. I decorated my dining room to take these photos and taking all the stuff back down so we'd have a place to eat and a gorgeous view of the yard again did make me a bit sad. I'm adding 'Build me a gypsy wagon!' to the hubby's to-do list. ;-)

Hail, Autumn!

2011-09-07T09:37:00.000-04:00

The calendar may say that Autumn isn't here and the heat index may well agree with that, but she's here. The shift in seasons is happening, I can feel it all around. The cicadas are beginning to quiet down, there have been a lot more foraging birds and squirrels in the yard, the natural world is beginning to slow down.

We had our first rain of the season, five to ten minutes spits of rain from the clouds that increased the humidity but the plants didn't mind and perked right back up from their semi-wilted states. All of the cloud cover really seems to have cooled things down though and for the first time since April, the temperature in my home fell below 80* without the help of air conditioning (which I never use anyway
).

The funk continues to linger, being fed by dissatisfaction with the company I work for and an ever-changing odd ball schedule. I feel as if there are incredibly few hours in the day with my current schedule; if I work the 'late' shift I have maybe two hours in the morning to exercise, eat and run any errands if I don't want to wake up at 6am (and as I am the classic definition of a night owl, this time would be spent yawning, drinking coffee and looking at my bed rather than being productive.) and if I work a full shift I go in at 8am and don't make it home until 6pm or later. I could manage my time with these shifts better if I had a set schedule, but with finicky co-workers who can't wrap their heads around the concept of an advanced schedule, it's never going to happen. As a result I've been creating less which will always, without fail, make me a mopey girl. I owe a few emails, postcards and coffee dates (lookin' at you Jenn) to people, I haven't forgotten and I'm not mad at anyone, just trying to shake this malaise.

That being said, as Autumn sweeps over the land my energy level is improving slightly. It's difficult for me to not get at least a wee bit excited when the best time of year comes to call! With any luck, the buzzing I feel in the air will penetrate this gloom and I'll be right as rain soon, this season has a way of healing and soothing me that is unmatched by anything aside from the sea. The first bits of my annual Autumn cleaning spree have begun, I've even taken down all 200+ books from my over-encumbered shelves to dust and reorganize them. I was sad to see the beginnings of foxing on my beloved words, so have plans to build museum quality shelves to hold them.

I've dusted the mantle and am debating where to put the springy things that are up there now to make room for pumpkins galore. Since I've been unimpressed with all of this year's pumpkin offerings at the craft stores, I think I'm going to have to make a bunch of my own or browse Etsy. Getting a new pumpkin to add to my collection is a yearly tradition around here!

I think I've rambled enough about what I've been up to, how have you all been? Getting into trouble, I hope. ;-)

Solar Powered Art

2011-08-30T18:14:00.001-04:00

During your travels through this magical series of tubes called the internet I'm sure that you, much like myself, have stumbled across this clever craft idea at least once. As a lover of all the super cheap craft stuff that can be found around back to school time and someone in need of things to start hanging on my walls this crayon art was right up my alley.

Only, unlike so many folks I decided to save some electricity and use our extremely sunny conditions to create the necessary heat for the project. I started out with two packages of Crayola crayons, an old canvas board and some glue. I removed one grey, one black and both white and brown crayons from the bunch and glued the crayons near the top of my canvas to create a double rainbow. I let the glue set overnight and stuck my canvas out in the early sunlight on my patio, propped up against a chair with some newspaper underneath to catch any drips.

I waited. And waited. I ran outside every so often to check on the progress and it was very anti-climatic until around the 2pm mark. Then it happened:

The purples and blues started first, in thin waxy drips then large chunks of built up mush as colors collided just outside the wrappers. The greens sat on the verge of dripped, glistening in the afternoon sun.

As they finally began to run the sun had left the patio and I took out the hairdryer to coax the remaining colors into movement. All it took was about three minutes and the yellows, oranges and reds joined the others on their journey down the canvas.

I let the wax solidify before bringing it in and hanging it up on my craft room wall. Eventually I would like to frame it, but for now I'm just enjoying the textures of it.

A fairly effortless and fun project that cost me less than $1. :)

P.S. I've been spending a lot of time on a site called Pinterest where I've been curating collections of lovely things, gathering ideas for things to make and hoarding inspiration. It's seriously addicting and I've been spending my snippets of time between reading, working, cooking and sleeping pinning things to my little heart's content. If you want to check out what the site is all about or friend me, you can find my pinboards here.

Hurricane Irene

2011-08-27T21:59:00.000-04:00

Via Fragile Oasis on Flickr.

Beautiful, terrifying Hurricane Irene is currently barreling up the East Coast heading directly to my beloved home state, Dirty Jersey. It lingered off the coast of South Carolina for a bit, but being so far inland we didn't receive so much as a drop of rain here. Our drought like conditions continue and my plants are none too pleased with the fact that my bank account can't keep up with their desire for luxurious amounts of water. The bees don't seem to mind however, nor do the hummingbirds. Mother Nature has given me many a beautiful sign or gift these past weeks, but I'm not going to delve into that right now.

For now, I wanted to just say this: All of my fellow East Coasters are in my prayers and thoughts this weekend. To say I'm worried about all of my loved ones back home may be an understatement. One look at my chewed off and sore fingernails would give me dead away. That being said, stay safe everyone. Remember, it's better to be over prepared than under and I expect every single one of your to be here to continue in the mischief making with me once this storm has, like so many others, passed.

xoxo

The Really Big Book Sale

2011-08-21T17:48:00.000-04:00

If there is one thing that I am helpless to resist in this world, even moreso than chocolate or coffee, it is books. Everything from the smell, the feel, the look of the written work on the page intoxicates and captivates me. To me, there is no greater indoor heaven on this Earth than a cozy book nook, an old book store or a large old library. You will never find me hunched in front of my computer or lounging about with an e-reader until someone comes to pry the last of the printed words from my cold, dead hands. I'm just that sort of crazy passionate. Also, I get migraines from reading type on any sort of screen but let's ignore that for now. ;)

Given my devotion to these marvelous collections of paper, it's no small wonder that I willingly crawled out of bed early on my first Saturday off in a month to go to our county's annual book sale, appropriately named, 'The really good, really big, really cheap book sale.' It's also no small wonder that I requested the day off, but that's neither here nor there.

With pocket camera and coffee in hand, I arrived at the book sale and made a dash for the Sci-fi/fantasy section, which had already been picked over fairly well despite the book sale only being open for an hour. However, I managed to snag a mint condition trade paperback copy of The Hobbit as well as some DragonLance titles before making my way into the jungle of bodies rummaging through the fiction trade paperbacks and hardcovers.

Apparently last year's big seller, was this year's re-seller.

Immediately upon hitting the area my mind went blank and I was powerless to come up with anything in particular that I wanted to look for. I had no choice but to join the crowd of book zombies as they muddled about, scanning every box for a title that caught their eye. Having managed to find a few things that I wanted I next made my way into the dangerous fray of the classics and collectibles section.

While in hindsight, I should have purchased the manual of plant diseases that I photographed above, I emerged from the table in tact grasping a 1960's hardcover copy of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe to my chest. Since Joe was outside at the time due to the bank calling and letting him know some jackass stole his debit card number and was attempting to use it in California, I surprised him with an antique book of woodworking and wood finishing.

I perused the rest of the sections quickly before heading to the check out, stopping to chuckle because I had the entire collection of these growing up:

The total damage to my wallet was less than $1 per book and super pleased with myself, I collected Joe and made my way back to my car with my purchases. Since the husband was kind enough to feign interest in my extreme literary addiction (he enjoys reading, but is nowhere near my level of book crazy) I went to the local gun and knife show with him, where he acquired an antique russian rifle and a broken bone in his foot, though not at the same time and not related to each other. Now he's stuck on the couch with constant ice packs and anti-inflammatory medication while I enjoy the spoils of my book addiction. In between changing ice packs and yelling at him to quit trying to walk all over the place. ;)

We're so going to need bigger bookshelves.

On Your Wings

2011-08-11T21:18:00.000-04:00

I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world”
Sadako Sasaki

Review: In Search of the Rose Notes

2011-08-08T00:01:00.001-04:00

In Search of the Rose Notes by Emily Arsenault

About the Book:

"Eleven-year-olds Nora and Charlotte were best friends. When their teenage babysitter, Rose, disappeared under mysterious circumstances, the girls decided to “investigate.” But their search—aided by paranormal theories and techniques gleaned from old Time-Life books—went nowhere.

Years later, Nora, now in her late twenties, is drawn back to her old neighborhood—and to her estranged friend—when Rose’s remains are finally discovered. Upset over their earlier failure to solve the possible murder, Charlotte is adamant that they join forces and try again. But Nora was the last known person to see Rose alive, and she’s not ready to revisit her troubled adolescence and the events surrounding the disappearance—or face the disturbing secrets that are already beginning to reemerge."

Review:

As little girls, my best friend and I shared so many secrets and talked about all sorts of things that others would definitely have thought odd. Anyone else ever tried levitation or astral projection at the ripe old age of 11? How about plotting your own trip around the world? Much like the main characters in Emily Arsenault's In Search of the Rose Notes we drifted apart in our teens and reconnected in our mid twenties. However, we were not brought back together by the murder of our babysitter. For the record, we still haven't been able to levitate nor travel the world. ;-)

Complex and emotional, In Search of the Rose Notes chronicles the relationship of Nora and Charlotte and the disappearance and death of their babysitter, Rose. Switching seamlessly between the present and the 1990's, Emily Arsenault is able to conjure up all of the awkwardness of growing up, making me squirm uncomfortably more than a few times. The story is told from the point of view of Nora, who fled her small hometown and all of the people and memories of her youth as soon as high school was over. Living comfortably apart from the life she used to live, she is finally forced to go back home and face some startling revelations about herself and the people she once knew when Charlotte calls out of the blue with news about Rose's disappearance.

In Search of the Rose Notes is a mystery, but does not read like any mystery I've picked up before. The style is unique and it doesn't try to make you guess about its ending. Instead, it unravels the tapestry of these women's relationships with each other and Rose, taking you along a memory laden path that leads to its very satisfying conclusion. It evoked so many nostalgic memories of my own childhood in the 1990's from the black Time Life Book series Mysteries of the Unknown which were referenced throughout to the loneliness of being the odd duck out, that I had a hard time putting it down, awkward memories be damned.

To read more about 'In Search of the Rose Notes', visit Emily Arsenault's website here or click the image above to see what other TLC Book Tour Hosts thought of it. Thank you to Trish at TLC and the publisher for the review copy of this novel.

Work in Progress Wednesday - Pickles and Jam

2011-08-03T17:11:00.001-04:00

I've been busily making things out of the last of some of the summer crops, creating strawberry and peach jams as well as pickles. My cucumbers have succumbed to some sort of worm that burrows into them and pushes out the insides in a spectacularly gross and smelly fashion. So, these pickles are the last of my crop. These are my first ever attempts at canning, so I'm hoping they all turn out tasty and hold up well!

I'm thinking there may be enough time left in the growing season down here that I could possibly start another batch of cucumbers and squash. I fully intend to plant spinach and lettuce for a fall crop, so if I could get one more hurrah from some other veggies too that would be awesome. Any thoughts from anyone in this area? I'm in agricultural zone 7a.

What are you working on this week?

P.S. For those who aren't over on the Whimsical Cottage Facebook page and didn't see the announcement, I've ended my summer vacation and re-opened the Etsy Shop. Stop by and take a peek, I'll be adding new things as I work on them.

Lughnasadh Blessings

2011-08-01T18:05:00.000-04:00

The Harvest God - Oil Pastel

Marking the beginning of the end of Summer, Lughnasadh is one of my favorite sabbats. The earth is near bursting with ripe grains and vegetables, the summer fruit season begins to ebb making way for the apples of Autumn. While the days will remain hot and humid for a while longer, the sun will set sooner giving more time to the darkness. Autumn is creeping in and the old woman of Winter, the Cailleach, begins to stir. Lughnasadh is the sabbat on which I take stock of how the things I began in Spring are coming along, to begin to see the benefits of the seeds I've sewn whether they be physical or metaphorical.

This time of the year, as the harvest comes on and the year wanes I focus on the Horned God, that primal masculine force of nature, as he prepares for his descent into the Underworld. Today, my attentions are on he and my bright patron, Lugh. The Goddess is not forgotten and is given offerings and recognition alongside the Gods, but just as her altar shines brightest at Imbolc, Lughnasadh is a day that I focus on them.

A fresh harvest of cucumbers, the first three tomatoes to ripen this year as well as several sunflowers, fragrant sprigs of rosemary and sage and corn muffins straight from the oven are offered up at the thicket on the edges of my yard. Nourishment to the spirits and critters of nature, brought forth by the fertility of the Lord and Lady with help from my two hands.

A bright and cheerful day, filled with a buzz of activity from the drawing of the Harvest God above, several loads of laundry, baking and the fashioning of a new necklace will be followed by an evening of relaxation, thankfulness, fresh chili and a few cold pints.

Merry Lughnasadh to you, my lovelies. May the harvest's blessings be plenty, whatever the seeds you've sewn.

Balance and the Black Wolf

2011-07-29T15:34:00.000-04:00

The Black Wolf and The Torch Bearer - Ball Point Pen.

All around us, there is balance. The cycles of nature, the seasons, are balanced. There is a time to sow and a time to harvest. A time for life to die back and a time for it to begin again; renewed. It is present in the passing of days, shared by the sun and the moon. These balances are necessary, for without darkness there could be no light.

In theory.

Light could still exist without the juxtaposition of darkness, however, would we truly appreciate it in that state? If we never experienced the chill and cold, the onset of despair that can be found and fought in the night would we be as thankful for dawn's breaking light and day's warmth? Does one who has never experienced drought or heat, appreciate the coming of rain as much as one who has?

By the same token, there is a balance that strives to exist within ourselves. It is the constant dance of light and dark that takes place in our minds, our emotions, our spirits. We go through periods of happiness as well as melancholy, both are necessary and it is worth getting to know these aspects of ourselves. The Goddess of Crossroads, the torch bearer, often comes to bring me light when I most need it. As one who has been prone to unexplainable periods of gloom since my teens, I've gotten accustomed to the darkness, the Black Wolf.

Sometimes the Black Wolf is called to my side by certain events. He envelops me in his darkness and I do not fight back. I surrender to the emotions and he sits patiently beside me until the Torch Bearer comes to lead the way back to the light. At other times he sprints unbidden from the shadows, nipping at my heels without warning. I can escape his jaws, but sometimes I am not fortunate enough to do so and at these times I find myself cloaked in the gloom for hours, days or weeks. The heavy weight of the Black Wolf sits on my chest, an unexplained lump of sadness, fear or listlessness. Often, I know not why he has come to pin me down and I occasionally fear his darkness will be unrelenting. Yet sometimes, in his darkness, there is something of importance waiting to be found.

The Black Wolf has been sitting beside me these past few weeks in what I at first assumed was a random bought of depression. But no. He was patiently waiting for me to pull myself inward, to hermit, and realize that I've been doling out too many pieces of me and not keeping enough to myself. He wanted me to see that I need to spend time nurturing and reconnecting with myself, that the funk I've been in was very much of my own making. My spirit has been feeling listless and disconnected, it longs to reconnect with my heart and the divine. The Black Wolf teaches me that I need to learn how to say 'no' when I want or need to and stop worrying about how folks will take it. Stop being a 'yes' woman and start making time for myself and my spirituality. His lesson learned, the Black Wolf bows his head and allows the Torch Bearer to lead me from his dark domain.

The Black Wolf and The Torch Bearer are balanced, as each has lessons to teach that require my time. While the Goddess shows me the light of happiness and hope, the Black Wolf asks me to look into the darkness. While laughter may be the best medicine, sometimes a good cry can be just as cathartic. When we dance in the darkness, the light will always be the brighter for it.

Work in Progress Wednesday - MMHQ

2011-07-27T17:21:00.000-04:00

Mess Making Headquarters. Still in progress, but coming along nicely!

What have you got in the works this week?

Dear Thunderstorm,

2011-07-26T17:54:00.000-04:00

I always thought we were friends. I've always gotten excited when you're mentioned by the weather channel, ever since I was a girl. Dark clouds would roll in, heralding your arrival and out on the patio or at the window I'd sit (against advice to the contrary) watching you approach. The first crackle of thunder, the first flash of lightning oddly comforting to me. I've always loved the rain, beating down on the roof and occasionally on myself, if I happened to run outside to play or dance with you.

You've always been a comfort on hot summer days and when I've needed to be cleansed and there was no ocean handy. I'd sit in your waters and think as you washed the gloom away, sending it down to the depths of the earth. I've never been disappointed by you, until last night. What happened to us, dear one?

Did you think I wouldn't notice if you did it quietly, so I didn't hear a crack or a crash? While I've got eye issues I'm not blind, I can see when there is a pine tree in a window where there was never a pine tree before.

Did you feel the need to remind me that you can be dangerous, as if I've somehow forgotten? Did the neighbors discover that there's a witch in the neighborhood and ask you to take me out, Wicked Witch of the East style? If it's the latter, I suppose I should thank you for not dropping a house on me. I will always love you, thunderstorm, but we've got some trust issues to work out.

Yours in shaky friendship,
The Wicked Witch of the South

P.S. For those wondering what I'm prattling on about:

I've taken having a 40 foot tree landing on the car I just paid off better than I would have expected; with a bit of snark and the draining of my saving account to buy a chainsaw since we don't seem to know anyone who owns one. On the positive side no one was hurt, we were considering taking down that tree anyway, it didn't hurt the house, we now have a good chunk of firewood for the winter and I've got a plethora of branches to give woodworking a shot on. Oh yea, and Joe has a shiny new power tool. He's like a giddy child over it too. ;)

Review: Kicking Ass and Saving Souls

2011-07-22T01:00:00.003-04:00

Kicking Ass and Saving Souls by David Matthews

Stefan Templeton is a man who was born into two worlds. His mother, a beautiful open minded Norwegian flower child and his father, a no nonsense African American raised in the mean streets of Baltimore in the 1960's met at college, married and made Stefan in the usual way. After his parents split up shortly after his birth, Stefan's life became far from usual.

Splitting his childhood and teen years between his father in the Baltimore ghetto and his mother in various parts of Europe, Stefan became the sort of renaissance man you expect to read about only in fiction. On the one hand, he was a tough kid who sought out adventure, trouble and adrenaline and could hold his own due to extremely intense martial arts training, but on the other he was a philosophical spirit with a soft spot for the less fortunate, the ill, the weak who wanted to deliver not only justice on their behalves, but aid.

His life story, as told by his childhood best friend, reads like a mish-mash of crime novel, uplifting spiritual adventure, spy thriller and Robin Hood. Stefan Templeton has seen and done more in one lifetime then many of us could hope to do in several, he falls from grace but never gives up, determined to find redemption in his own way.

I will admit it took me longer than usual to get through this novel. Possibly it could have been due to it being a memoir, a genre which I typically don't read or it didn't inspire me in the same way that 'Eat, Pray, Love' failed to move me. I found it to be an interesting read, however, especially towards the second half when Stefan begins to seek out redemption and turns his life around. That being said, if you're someone who has rooted for the underdog or wants to find inspiration in a life story that is stranger than fiction, I'd recommend giving this honest and to the point memoir a shot.

Thank you to Trish at TLC Book Tours and the publisher for the review copy of this book. If you'd like to read what others thought of the novel, click the TLC icon above.

Work in Progress Wednesday - The Spare Room

2011-07-20T20:19:00.001-04:00

It's been a few hectic days around here. I've been itching to post something, but have either not had the time or have had the time but not the ideas or initiative. A testament to the fact that I'm not completely out of the funk I've been in yet. Soon! *fingers crossed*

Last night I was laid up with a random and vicious stomach problem, it came on out of nowhere as I was cooking dinner. There was a sharp pain and then I felt violently nauseous and remained that way throughout most of the night, falling asleep on the couch several times while Joe finished up dinner (which I was feeling far too wretched to eat) and worked a bit on our latest endeavor. This morning I woke up to a slightly squirrelly belly and a freshly painted craft room!

You see, my brother and his girlfriend (who have been staying with us while they looked for a place) found an apartment and moved out Friday afternoon leaving me with a large empty spare bedroom. Mind you, I've been coveting the space and biding my time since me moved in so it's no wonder that we moved them out Friday and were at the home improvement store the very next afternoon buying paint and lumber to rebuild the closet.

It's still in progress, but here are the before and after shots of the paint. It's now officially decked out in colours only a Danni could love:

Before:

After:

Soon I'll be moving my desk and all of my boxes of mess making supplies and art junk in there and really making it into my space. For the first time since we've lived on our own I'm being all weird about hanging things on the wall, I keep telling myself 'what if I hate it there? Then there will be a stupid hole in the wall that I'll want to fix, which means putty, sand, paint... repeat! Ugh!' I'm hoping since I'm usually incredibly liberal with my craft spaces and hang stuff all over the damn place that it will burst this weird bubble of decorating terror I've managed to get myself in to. *fingers crossed*

What have you guys been up to? I feel like it's been ages since I've been around, though it's only been a week or so!

Work in Progress Wednesday - WOTY

2011-07-13T18:45:00.006-04:00

My most recent page in my pagan art journal, a spread dedicated to the Wheel of the Year. I'll go into further detail when I share the finished page. This shows one of the ways in which I work things up though. Coat the old book page in paint, sketch in pencil, ink over it and don't really clean up the pencil all that much. You can click the image above to view it larger.

The Sights and Sounds of Summer

2011-07-11T10:55:00.000-04:00

There is always at least one thing each season that defines it for you. To some, summer is defined by cookouts, trips to the ocean, fireworks, ice cold lemonade... it just isn't summer to these folks without them. To me, summer has always been defined by its bugs. And not the ones that suck my blood and try to carry me off, prevalent as they may be.

It isn't summer until I've seen at least two dozen fireflies twinkling out in the yard. I've often thought of them as the torch-bearers of Fairy, illuminating the paths between our world and theirs or providing the lighting at one of their famous fairy balls. Fireflies are magical summer light-bringers, dancing and capturing the imagination beneath the starry summer sky.

If fireflies are the dancers, then who are the musicians to whom they dance? Cicadas, crickets and chirping frogs of course! The song of summer is carried on the air, even in more suburban places then you would imagine. If you have trees, or grass, you will probably hear the call of at least one of these creatures as the sun sets each summer night. If you are extremely lucky, you can drift off to sleep to the melody of more than one.

This summer sounds even more like summer then usual (as odd a sentence as that is to write) because the 13 year Magicicada has emerged and added his voice to the nightly choir. A much darker cicada then the annuals, his black body and orange veined wings would be a sight to behold. I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed to see one of them before the end of the season as I don't want to wait until I'm 41 to try again!

What are the things that undeniably say 'it's summer!' to you?

A Belated Happy Birthday

2011-07-06T21:54:00.000-04:00

Via riptheskull on Flickr.

To my lovely home here in internet-land, my whimsical cottage! The very special date crept by a few days ago, with barely a whisper to remind me it was passing through. So long as everyone remembered to send presents and cards I'll be off the hook, right? ;-) (I really hope someone did as the cottage, much like Baba Yaga's chicken foot hut, tends to have a mind and attitude all it's own!)

It's been two years since I first opened the doors to the cottage and waited eagerly for passers-by to stop for a spot of tea, a pint of cold ale, or a shot of something stronger and mingle with me. A magical, wonderful two years that have far exceeded my expectations! I've made some lifelong ~~partners~~ witches in crime and met so many talented and amazing people, I've learned so much from others and about myself throughout these years of sharing and feel truly blessed that so many of you seem to enjoy my ramblings!

I truly appreciate every peek inside, every note scribbled and left, every kindred spirit and curious heart who has stopped once, twice or a dozen times. The cottage and I are constantly changing, growing and evolving and I hope you'll all continue to do the same with us. Help yourself to a pint, a cuppa or a candy and have a peek at some of my favorite posts of the past two years. For those followers new or old, I hope you enjoy!

The First Year
*Greetings From Asbury Park!
*A visit to Sleepy Hollow
Btw, southern lovelies, if any of you know of any amazing cemeteries in the South-East let me know. I haven't been to a proper cemetery since I moved over a year ago! I can't find any, even with Google helping.
*Spell Bottle
*Our First Year
*A New York City Christmas
*Reflections on a Decade
*Asbury at Dawn
*Grimore, Book of Shadows or a Haphazard Mess?
For those keeping track, I'm still firmly in the 'haphazard mess' category. Though, my pagan art journal is sort of becoming a Grimoire of it's own will.
*Through the Looking Glass

The Second Year
*Hunting Island, SC
*New Moon Magic
*Sunrise Mountain
*Ten, Ten, Ten, Two and a Cake
*Full Moon Tea
*Dia De Los Muertos
*The Holiday Season
*So Long, Year!
*Our House
*Transitioning
*Who and What Are You?
*The Fawn and The Goat

P.S. In answer to a recent frequently asked question: The cottage in my banner, alas, is neither my home nor a cottage on my land. It is an herb/floral shop that I happened across on a day trip to Sugarloaf, NY a few years ago. The place was too cute to resist and I snapped a picture, which I fiddled about with in Photoshop. The original is actually much less mysterious!

P.P.S. The home that my husband and I recently bought is lovingly referred to by me (and maybe one day by he as well) as my cottage. My cute, cozy, ranch style cottage. Hehe. ;)

Fire in the Sky

2011-07-05T22:18:00.001-04:00

It's amazing, how uplifting something as seemingly simple as fireworks can be. As we sat on the quilt I made, watching the twinkling explosions in the sky, I felt energized and light.

At the end of the display I was grinning like a fool and feeling more awake then I have in weeks. I would say I've been feeling burned out, but that's not entirely accurate. Feeling 'off' better sums it up, feeling physically worn down and almost in a constant state of achy between my head, neck and knees. It's felt like a large storm system has been moving in, but there's been no rain.

Until today. I feel refreshed, reinvigorated and am ache free. I blame it on the elements, fire for energizing my spirit and water for cooling and washing away some of the blah. My head is buzzing with so many things suddenly: things to do, things to search inside myself for, things to read. I will be treading lightly, making lists and working slowly out of this funk lest I put myself right back into it.

I had originally intended to post solely about the sheer awesome that was the fireworks show over Greenville last night, but sort of ended up in a cathartic rant. Whoops!

Let me just say, that the finale was unlike anything I've ever seen and I was so spellbound that I didn't snap a single picture! It was like dozens of wreaths of brightly colored christmas lights twinkling in the sky accompanied by the deepest of thunders, for what seemed like ages but was probably only mere minutes. The lovely and I were both grinning and giggling like a couple of mischievous children when the sky finally went dark again and continued in that manner until we laid down to bed.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, Canada Day and Fourth!

Sunny Bumbles

2011-06-30T09:58:00.000-04:00

Hello my lovelies, long time, no write! It seems some pesky pixie or goblin has absconded with my energy and I've been left hanging about in a very 'blah', 'meh', lethargical kind of mood. Or perhaps it's all the travel that's accompanied the long training hours for the new job that's sapped me, travel that's not-for-pleasure always has that effect on me.

In any event, I'm hoping this slump will end soon. I skimped out on doing anything at all for Midsummer, aside from watching the sun set and sitting about thinking, which is very unusual for me. The longest day of the year has always given me the energetic jitters, but this year, between traveling and a few days of migraines, I wasn't feeling up to doing much of anything. I did however, have my very first sunflower open up and was able to pick the first harvest from our garden; a few fat summer squash, a giant zucchini and several chubby cucumbers. All of which were promptly eaten.

It was so pretty and cool this morning with the sun shining through a haze of dewy, chilly, humidity. As my morning coffee was finishing brewing I felt an irresistible tug on my sleeve to grab my camera and head outside. Mother Nature always knows when I need a little nudge, or a swift kick in the ass and is always quick to deliver whichever I'm needing. I visited all the flowers and trees in the yard, enjoying the play of morning sunlight on their petals and through their leaves. But, the best part of my trip outside was getting to see all of the bumble bees on my sunflowers.

My heart absolutely sings when I get to spend time amongst these fuzzy creatures, as those who've read a while will know. They are so important not only to me, but to the entire world, and have so many wonderful lessons to teach me.

Today's lessons:

Stop and smell the flowers.

Don't be afraid to get a little bit dirty.

If you stand really still and ask really nicely, the bees will let you photograph them.

Really and honestly, this little bee even let me pet him ever so gently.

and lastly, even though the oregano the previous owners planted has fallen over, looks ugly and is trying to take over your herb garden leave it alone for now, because we bees love it!

P.S. Thank you everyone for stopping by my Tea Party tale over the weekend! I was completely blown away by the response and my dancing goat man even peaked in a few times to read your comments. I really am lucky to be married to such a silly fella.

P.P.S. Welcome to all my newest followers! I hope you enjoy your stay at my very eclectic cottage.

2011-06-28T11:32:00.000-04:00

And the winner of 'Centuries of June' by Keith Donohue is....

Sarita!

Send me your mailing info and I'll forward it along. Thank you everyone for playing. :)

The Fawn and The Goat

2011-06-24T23:00:00.000-04:00

On Midsummer eve beneath the red bud tree,
a Fawn and her friends gathered for tea,

There were ribbons colored many,
candies and treats galore,

But the fawn did not know,
what Cupid had in store.

A sound caught her ear,
the chubby birds quit chirping,

Then out of the woods,
A goat came a-lurking.

With a look most puzzling,
Closer he crept,

He presented the fawn a rose,
and off her feet she was swept.

They sipped and they nibbled,
One maybe guzzled,

They danced and made merry,
while the birds sang a tune.

And as the sun set on this midsummer tea,
A goat kissed a fawn 'neath the red bud tree.

I hope you all enjoyed my tale of tea, whimsy and mushy-stuff! If you want to see the rest of the photos, or view these ones larger, you can do so by clicking here to visit the Flickr set.

Thank you to Vanessa for once more hosting a tea party most mad and delightful, please visit her at A Fanciful Twist and make merry there before visiting some of the other tea partiers!

Review and Giveaway: Centuries of June

2011-06-20T00:01:00.004-04:00

Centuries of June by Keith Donohue

A dark comedy that takes place in a bathroom, Centuries of June is a stylish and captivating novel. It is written in multiple styles with the stories being told from the viewpoints of several different women. Their stories involve heartache, struggle, murder, love and redemption and though they are each different, they have a common ground point; the mysterious narrator who is laying on the bathroom floor with a hole in his skull, Jack.

Centuries of June is a coming together of several genres and of mythologies, folk tales and urban legends told and heard throughout America at different times. It is an unusual and surreal book, filled to the brim with vivid characters, dreamy sequences, fantasy, flappers and a dash of silliness for good measure. Part murder mystery, part fantasy and a bit twisted, this novel kept me intrigued through the end.

To read more about the novel, you can visit Keith Donohue's site here.

Now lovelies, once more the author and publisher were kind enough to offer a copy of this novel to one lucky bookworm! This contest is for one hardcopy of Centuries of June and is only open to folks in the United States and Canada.

The contest will run through the 27th of June, with the winner being announced on the 28th.

To Enter:
*Be or become a follower of my blog and leave a comment (let me know if you follow through blogger, rss, etc), making sure you leave an email address or have a public blogger profile so I can contact you. If I cannot contact you, then I'll have to pick another winner.

*That's it! Happy summer reading, lovelies.

Thank you to Lisa at TLC Book Tours and the publisher for the review copy of this book. If you'd like to read what others thought of the novel, click the TLC icon above.

2011-06-17T13:25:00.000-04:00

And the winner of 'The Hypnotist' by M.J. Rose is... Mina!

Congratulations, dear! Please send me your info and I'll forward it on for you.

I'll be back with something of substance soon. I've had my butt glue to the couch playing DragonAge 2 all week, after waiting a few months to pick it up. I've also been preparing for the tea party and feeling a bit lethargic. So, not too much going on excitement wise right now.

A Quick Shop Announcement

2011-06-14T15:19:00.001-04:00

This Friday evening, I will be putting the shop on summer vacation for a few weeks. Not only is it gorgeous enough to make me not want to be inside most of the time, it's also high time I work on some of the projects for myself that I've been putting off for a little while. Like my wedding album which has been patiently waiting for me to start it for nearly three years.

I'm unsure of exactly when I'll re-open, so if there is something over there you've been eyeballing, now is the time to give it a good home. I'm also offering free shipping to anywhere in the world, just use coupon code SUMMERSHIP at checkout.

Cupcakes and Fairy Butts

2011-06-10T13:19:00.000-04:00

This week has been a week of trying new styles and methods in my art, as well as falling back on a favorite subject and medium. I've been pretty busy with making things and adjusting to the thought of going back to work, which I'll be doing super soon on a part time basis. I've been out shopping for new teacups and wonders for the upcoming mad tea party but have found the thrift and pottery shops really don't have anything that's calling to me.

Next week will be devoted to making and collecting all manner of things for the party. From glittery garlands, to wardrobe, candy and cupcakes. It's going to be a different variation then last year and I think I may err a bit away from the Alice in Wonderland theme. I tend to leave my idea making and plotting up until the day I'm taking the photos, so we'll see what happens. For now, I'll show you what sort of mess making I've been up to.

A friend of mine was kind enough to take me out for a night of painting and wine sipping at a new painting studio that recently opened. Essentially, you look at their calendar and see if any of the paintings they have scheduled appeal to you. If they do, grab a friend and a bottle of something tasty and head over on that night to paint that picture along with the instructor. I had no idea this place existed, but she did and was excited that they had a 'funky cupcake' painting night so that's the class we went to. It's not my typical style (some of you may know that I dislike pink, which will make another of my projects seem sort of funny) but I'm quite pleased with the result. I hung it up in the dining room.

I was amused because the instructor asked us if anyone paints regularly. My lone hand went up and man, did I feel a bit like people thought I was a big fat cheater. This isn't typically how or what I paint, so I enjoyed the night and had a lot of fun. At the end of class we all showed our projects off and the class leader said, "Oh, that's SO good!... Wait, you paint don't you?" As if that disqualified me from compliments. Next time? Totally not raising my hand.

Now this, on the other hand, is how and what I normally paint:

If they were having a 'nekkid goblin' painting night, I would 100% be a big fat cheater. This little guy is done up in watercolors and micron pen and measures in at 4"x6" and is available for adoption in my etsy shop.

I've been wanting to paint a sneaky, torch bearing goblin for a while but had initially envisioned him wearing clothes. When I went to draw this little fellow though, he informed me clothes just get in the way and make you less sneaky. He did however, request a nice pair of soft booties to keep his toenails from clicking against the floor and giving him away. Silly fellow.

Finally, we have my most ambitious project. It is my third needle felting project and was originally meant to be a small waldorf style, simple fairy doll with a round body, round head, maybe some arms. I had planned on hanging the final project in the dining room window. However, that's not what I ended up making. At all.

She is needle felted without an armiture, so she doesn't pose, or sit or stand without being propped up. But, as I said, she isn't what I had set out to make initially and that doll wouldn't have needed an armiture. She is as long as my hand and has taken somewhere in the ballpark of 4 hours to do so far.

As you can see, nekkidness is the theme with the fae this week. She won't be this way for long but it seemed like a shame to do all that work sculpting her body and then needle felting clothing onto her. So, I'll be sewing something flowy, shimmery and gypsy like for her instead.

You can see why my dislike of pink made me chuckle, but as I'm working through wool gifted to me by a friend my color pallete is a little limited. I could have done solid blue, or yellows for her hair, but the pinks and purples worked best for variation. She's probably going to end up with a shimmery dark pink outfit, since I like the hair and wing colors so much and have some in my fabric stash. So there you go, sometimes a disliked color can look good.

Now that I've rambled on, what have you guys been up to this week? Any plans for the weekend?

Review & Giveaway: The Hypnotist

2011-06-09T00:01:00.004-04:00

The Hypnotist by M.J. Rose

M.J Rose's The Hypnotist is the third book in her Reincarnationist series and I will admit that I was a bit concerned that I would be a bit lost jumping into this book having not read the others.

Luckily, I was wrong. Opening with the brutal murder of a budding young artist in a NYC frame shop, The Hypnotist draws you in to the life of its main character, Lucian Glass. Lucian, an agent with the FBI's Art Crime Team is engrossed in a case regarding the infamous reincarnationist, Malachai Samuels, a man who is linked to numerous crimes around the world. Determined to gather concrete evidence to bring him down, Lucian goes undercover as a patient at the Phoenix Foundation, a practice dedicated to helping people learn about and cope with the guilt and experiences carried over from past lives.

What Lucian doesn't know, however, is that these sessions will entangle his current and past lives with a magnificent ancient sculpture that is desperately wanted by the Iranian government as well as a wealthy and powerful man, both of which will go to great lengths to possess it.

A well written blend of mystery, murder and art The Hypnotist held my attention to such a degree that I finished the 412 page novel in a single afternoon. There are masterful plot overlaps, that add rather then detract from the book and the descriptions of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (where a good portion of the book is centered) had me smiling in joyful remembrance of the numerous times I've walked through its exhibits.

Definitely a must read for fans of mystery, art, thrillers or those intrigued by the prospect of reincarnation. And, luckily for all of my fellow bookworms, M.J Rose and her publishers have offered up a copy to one of you lovelies!

The giveaway is for a hard copy of the novel (available to US and Canadian readers only, No PO boxes,please) or a PDF copy which will be available to any lucky reader regardless of where in the world you are! The contest will run until June 16th, with the winner being announced on the 17th.

To enter:
*Be or become a follower of my blog and leave a comment (let me know if you follow through blogger, rss, etc), making sure you leave an email address or have a public blogger profile so I can contact you. If I cannot contact you, then I'll have to pick another winner.

*That's it! Happy summer reading, lovelies.

Thank you to Lisa at TLC Book Tours and the publisher for the review copy of this book. If you'd like to read what others thought of the novel, click the TLC icon above.

Growing Green Things

2011-06-07T22:28:00.001-04:00

Our small garden is growing up so quickly, much more so then I had expected or even hoped for! We decided to keep things more or less simple this year, due to budget and a lack of experience, and opted to grow salad veggies and things we may like to pickle, sauce or salsa and can.

So far, the cucumbers, cabbage, zucchini, summer squash and tomatoes are all growing up beautifully. The lettuce and spinach are growing more slowly, as are the broccoli and peas. In fact, the peas have decided to lay down on the ground after a bit of a heavy rain the other day rather then continue to climb the trellis I made them. Anyone with experience with peas know if this is normal? They're still fairly tiny buggers, only maybe 4" tall but they have quite a few tendrils shooting off. Should I just lean them back on the trellis and let them go?

The peppers are growing up the slowest of all, for a while there I was actually worried the seeds weren't going to sprout at all. But now that they're up and out of the dirt, they're growing a bit more rapidly.

Baby Zucchini, looking all cute.

The green beans and broccoli and were doing well, until a rabbit chewed a hole in the mesh fencing we put up and nibbled off many of their wee heads. Again, due to the budget constraints of just purchasing a home, we used found and leftover materials including thick old tree branches, some chicken wire and some plastic mesh fencing. The entire thing cost us $20, which to me anyway, is pretty darn impressive for over 100 feet of fencing.

I'm all for sharing my some of my food with the wild critters, I never shoo them out of the herb garden though the teeny baby bunnies come to nibble my plants pretty regularly and the not-so-sneaky squirrels steal my unripened strawberries. But gods dammit, I'd like some beans and broccoli for myself, please. We've got to patch the hole in the fence, but since they seem to enjoy chewing through it, anyone have any good ways to deter the buggers that won't hurt them?

P.S. As a bunny related aside, the furry critters have been popping up all over the place for me lately. Aside from the one I held as she passed, I've found and buried two babies that we believe were the victims of an owl. They come onto the patio most mornings to nod a hello before running off so I can't take their picture and have been frequently in my dreams of late, including a series of dreams a few nights ago where rabbit was a constant companion through the night but was joined off and on by cat and ferret. They're hopping about all through my life these days, I tell you.

Full of Hot Air

2011-06-02T17:49:00.000-04:00

While I am terrified of heights (it's not so much the being up high as the prospect of falling), I find hot air balloons to be wonderful and charming and lucky me, there was a balloon festival over the weekend! I thought I would share, lest you all think my entire weekend was spent being harvested for my blood.

I love the vibrant colors and the anticipation that lingers in the air as the crowd watches the balloons inflate and waits for one of them to break free from the Earth.

Gracefully, almost lazily, the first balloon will head towards the open sky. A second and third follow suit while the rest of the group continue to inflate, waiting to join their fellows as they climb towards the setting sun.

In its anticipation, one of the balloons tried to get away without its riders!

They managed to catch it and climb into their basket, before joining the other brightly striped balloons in the blue (and hazy!) evening sky.

Up and away they went, over the trees and beyond the hill, floating into the descending dusk. We watched until the very last, a purple monster of some sort had made his way into the sky and out of our sights over the range.

I wonder what it is about balloons that inspires such giddiness and joy within myself and so many others?

Help! Lest they take me to their Queen

2011-06-01T18:45:00.001-04:00

It's never been any big secret to me that mosquitoes find me to be delicious. From the time I was a kid if I wasn't in the house I needed to be hosed down with chemicals in order to keep from looking like I had a case of the measles on top of a bad case of the chicken pox. If they had their way they'd find a way to tie me to a tree and feed on me relentlessly. No joke.

Growing up I lived in the middle of some state land right across from a swamp. Mosquitoes kind of came with the territory. Also, at the time of my growing up, organic and homegrown wasn't all the rage and West Nile was unheard of so it was a very different period of my life. A summer night was spent swatting the occasional bug away if I sprayed myself down or a dozen (or two or three) if I hadn't.

Flash forward to current day. Mosquitoes still find me delicious, as evidenced during a three day camping trip last year where I bathed in Deep woods off and was still the recipient of nearly 50 bites. I've noticed that mosquitoes on an island are a bit on the tenacious and mean side though and will bite through your clothing and are typically none too bothered by smoke, candle or fire the way your average pest is. It's one of the inconveniences that comes with this sort of trip, sort of like peeing in the bushes. It's one more thing to remove you from the state of being comfy at home.

So imagine my annoyance when over the weekend the bastards tried to carry me off to their mosquito kingdom to make me their blood concubine. All I wanted to do was weed my garden and finish turning the last two beds (which I'll be starting from baby plants and not seeds since it's so late in the season) but no, they couldn't let me be, giving me 30+ bites. To add to my annoyance, I've begun to weed chemicals out of my life wherever possible, including my skin and hair care routines so I really wasn't fond of the thought of hosing myself down with chemicals just to weed the garden. I decided I'd wait until noon the following day when the sun would be shining directly on the garden, it would be massively hot and the mosquitoes would be lurking in their lairs waiting for it to cool down. Sure, I'd be covered in sunscreen and hotter then hell, but that beats out on the lumps, itching and possible diseases that mosquitoes bring right?

Not so much. In 20 minutes I had been bitten 12 times. I broke down and sprayed myself with the bug spray and got back to weeding with no more bites. After I was done, I decided to try to hunt down some home-made or at least organic alternatives and went to the local health shop yesterday to shop. I came home with something that in all honesty, should have worked as it's a high concentration of citronella blended with lemongrass and cedar in a carrier (which I'm under the impression bugs dislike), but nope. I went outside just now after spraying myself down and received quite a few bites in the 15 minutes I was out there before running like hell to the safety of my house. Awesome.

So, I'm sort of at my wits end here. I live in the suburbs with no lakes or swamps nearby. I keep my yard cut, weeds plucked and hedges trimmed. There's no standing water that I can find; no old tires, planters, etc where it can hide. I have a fairly high intake of garlic and really don't want to be wearing long pants and long sleeves since it's already humid and hot and it's only the first day of June.

So my question to you all is, can you think of anything else to try before I give up and just go back to spraying myself with the chemical stuff? How do all of you delicious blood meals avoid getting bitten? Because honestly, the diseases the mosquitoes carry make me think that if it's my only option it's one worth following through on.

Catching Up With the 'Ole Altered Journal

2011-05-27T22:35:00.000-04:00

It's been so long since I've worked in my altered journal, the big old Reader's Digest Anthology that has been my big journal of everything for the past three years. I finally sat down this week to scan some of the pages I did back in January, as well as create a page for the beer fest we went to last weekend since I collected some seriously great paper goodies while we were there.

I also, much to my chagrin, finally finished up a page I sketched out while Joe and I were on our honeymoon (nearly three years ago). I'm now officially 280 pages into the 536 page book. To be fair though, I have ripped probably 20 pages out and glued others together to keep the binding from exploding.

Being as how it's been a good long time since I shared anything from this journal and I'm working in my pagan art journal with only paint and ink rather then collage, I'd share some of the pages I've done in 2011.

(click on any of these to see them larger on Flickr.)

Inspired by time with the lovely and siblings over Christmas; I'm the one grinning like a dork. Includes some wrapping paper, stamps and bits of cards people sent me.

Celebrating my participation in and completion of the 2011 Sketchbook Project and my theme 'Nightmares'. What is the Fear in Your Heart?

This one was done back when I had a relapse of my eye issue back at the end of March, beginning of April. I had just gotten home from the doctor and was emotionally overwhelmed, exhausted and looked to my journal for comfort. I put no real thought into this; just grabbed my charcoal sticks and various acrylic paints and let myself go. No brushes, no sketching. Highly therapeutic, a bit ugly and not sure what the hell I squiggled on there.

My tribute to the fabulous beer festival. No real explanation needed I think. Watercolor, pen and various goodies.

You know I couldn't leave you without showing you what took me nearly three years to go ahead and color right? ;-) Here is the page I sketched out on our honeymoon:

That's right. Just married and riding a gods-damned unicorn! The image on the right is a postcard from a place we visited on our honeymoon. I chopped two pages down to just strip and glued it in between them then reinforced the flimsy tabs with bits of a card.

This book has gone on various travels and adventures with me and holds all sorts of memories, ideas and quirky tidbits I've encountered over the years. Now that I'm past the halfway point in it, I'm actually worried I'll fill it up soon. How weird is that?

Who and What are You?

2011-05-25T19:01:00.002-04:00

So, I was totally called on by Angel from Ivy on the Path in her most recent blog post "Who are you and what are you?: Personal styles of the craft" to share a bit about my personal style. I didn't want to hog her entire comment section with a long winded ramble, so I thought I should just go ahead and do a post.

I'm going to preface this with a warning; I typically suck at talking about myself. It's usually very stream-of-consciousness and not as well written as say, descriptions of things or snark.

Since I was a girl, I've been intensely interested in, fascinated by and in love with nature. From trees to rocks to flowers to animals, I couldn't absorb enough information about or spend enough time out in it all.I had all the makings of a young witch and had feelings in my heart and spirit that had no name. I was a wee pagan. Countless days were spent chatting with the friendly oaks in the backyard, collecting neat rocks, on the look-out for one of the neighboring bears to wander by or making potions and spells from mud, plants and sticks. It's something I've carried with me into adulthood, although I will begrudgingly admit that a lot of the 'doing without worry' of my younger years has gone into hiding and has yet to re-emerge since I was hit with a case of 'the grown-ups'.

Now that I'm through that strange and unpleasant phase where I worried far too much about 'being a grown up' , 'putting aside childish things' and 'being successful' (by the standards of others), that youthful way of not over-thinking and worrying things to death is something I'm trying to reclaim. This is something that shows in many things: my art, my writing, my enjoyment of purely silly things. It shows in my rekindled love for and belief in the fae, who I had pushed aside and denied belief in during this stodgy period of my life.

I definitely believe that the things we enjoy in our day to day lives, the things that we tend towards and favor, our life experiences are all reflected in our personal styles as pagans, witches, etc. Drawing from my less than pleasant experience above, I've been working on trusting my heart and my guts when it comes to spells and rituals and putting all the damn books down. While they are great tools, they're written based on someone else's comforts, style and beliefs - not my own.

Some examples of my personal style:

* I have a fondness for the antique, vintage or just plain old. Be it books, keys, teapots or what have you; these things are in my china hutch, on my bookshelves, on the mantle and adorn my altar in the form of candle holders, bells, plates and bowls. There isn't a thing on my altar that was brand new when I bought it or it was gifted to me. Everything has a past.

* Being such a barefooted, bug bitten dirt worshiper, it's only natural that my favorite colors are greens, browns and brilliant blues. These are often part of my altar set-up, usually in the form of altar cloths. Also not terribly surprising, is I'm always working plants and stones into my workings, or putting them on the altar for some reason or another.

* Simplicity, fun and not always taking everything overly seriously is important to me. A lot of my spellwork is spontaneous, light hearted and free form.

* My style and moods change with the seasons, though not exactly as you would expect. In the Spring, I feel renewed and it is incredibly hard to keep me indoors. I'm drawn towards planting, enjoy skipping around in the rain and looking for four leaf clovers. Birds and flowers adorn the house. In Summer, my mood levels out, I'm content. I enjoy watching the green world flourish, soak in the late setting sun and long to be by the sea. In Autumn, I'm giddy and once more renewed: I'm drawn to this part of the year most. I bask in the harvest and the browning of the earth, bid farewell to the sun, bring out the pumpkins and take time to reflect on many a things. In the Winter, when the sun has disappeared I often find myself melancholy and dreary. In attempts to bring in some cheer, I deck the house out in greens and whites and prepare (sometimes dread) the upcoming holidays.

* Personal expression, art, inspiration and the wild world are important to me. There is always art on my altar, my tools are often handmade or found, I tend towards things which are naturally beautiful. For instance my wand, which is just a branch that was found, that I adorned with leather, shells, feathers and beads. I work with all of the elements, though I am most comfortable with Earth and Water. I have an easier time expressing some of my feelings and beliefs through art and then thinking on how to word them later then the other way around sometimes, hence my pagan art journal; the closest thing to a cohesive Grimiore I've yet to create.

* Birds are a huge inspiration for me, I'm completely fascinated by them. I collect feathers for use in charms, bags and spellwork. I also use bird shaped candle holders for petitions or prayers so they can carry my thoughts on their wings.

* I'm still coming into my own, now that a lot of the unrealistic expectations I put on myself are fading away with the anger and depression of my late teens and early twenties. I'm a work in progress who is settling into the rhythm of my life and learning to be happy with the genuine me. I'm reconnecting with my intuition, with my faith and making my way along this path knowing it could change at any moment (as it recently has) and looking forward to the adventure of it.

This is just a small list, I could carry on forever about all of the things that I enjoy and some of the experiences I've had. However, I feel these big ones are the meat and bones of who and what I am currently: a woman, wife, friend, dork, artist and witch who is heavily inspired by nature and the seasons, enjoys a good story, a cold pint, a bit of fun and mischief and is finding her way back to herself while walking a winding path.

Danni also enjoys disguising herself as a Mario brother while drinking coffee.

So, my lovelies. Tell me a bit about yourself and your personal style, whether you be a witch or not. There are no right or wrong answers or ways, only our own. I'd like to get to know everyone a bit better, that's another personality trait of mine: curiosity. Feel free to leave a ramble here or on your blog (post the link here so I can visit) and stop by Ivy on the Path to visit Angel sometime, her photos are as beautiful as her writing is inspiring and thoughtful.

It's Nearly Time For Tea!

2011-05-25T10:02:00.000-04:00

Will you follow me down the Rabbit Hole, to Vanessa Valencia's Fourth Annual Mad Tea Party? The hatter awaits, with treats and surprises galore! There will be laughter, cake, dancing and so much more!

Grab your tea cup and your fanciest hat and follow the path to a bit of madness and a lot of fun in one month's time. I know I will.

****
Aren't sure how to participate? Click the flyer above to visit A Fanciful Twist and read this year's invitation and visit previous year's parties for ideas and to see what others have done. You can also click over to my tea party from last summer.

Downtown, Music and Ale

2011-05-24T15:09:00.000-04:00

We kicked off the weekend with the Greek Festival downtown at the Greek Orthodox Church, where there was music, many painted wooden toys and a 45 minute line for gyros that we definitely waited in.

After our bellies were full of lamb and pita, we walked Main Street for a little bit and enjoyed the cool night air. We stopped to listen to the dude who seems to always be playing his guitar by this statue on weekends. Let me tell you, this guy can seriously sing. He's awesome. And I probably owe him like $40, because every time I see him I seem to have no cash on me to put in his tip drum.

After getting some snarkiness and house work out of my system on Saturday, I went to the previously mentioned beer festival, Top of the Hops. While I was there, I sampled 28 beers from my tiny souvenir mug and let me tell you, I'm happy I sampled some of them there instead of buying them. That being said, there were some really tasty new beers I discovered as well as some old favorites that I just had to get while I was there. I know, I probably should have skipped the old favorites to try some more new ones, but I just couldn't help myself.

The whole day wasn't just about wandering aimlessly from beer vendor to beer vendor (although it could have been, had you wanted it to) and we took a break from our wanderings to take some classes at the 'Brew University'. One was on beer and cheese pairings, which was a delicious class! The other was on homebrewing 101, which while it lacked cheese and crackers gave me the opportunity to try some unique brews, like bacon stout and a beer with peanut butter cups in it.

After the festivities came to a close, we all met up back at a friend's place for swimming, pizza and conversation which included the meat of my last post and several visits from a toad who was hell bent on getting in the pool. We relocated him to a storm drain where there was plenty of non-chlorinated water, so hopefully he decided that was an improvement and didn't attempt to get into the pool after we left.

Cheers to a weekend well spent!

Some Post-Rapture Ponderings

2011-05-23T11:11:00.000-04:00

While I was out and about on Saturday with the lovely and our friends, we had a good hearty chuckle about this end of the world business. We eagerly awaited the raptor after the beer festival, while lounging by a pool. Unfortunately, even with their cleverness and apparent ability to use door handles, the poor dinosaur would have needed a key card to get in. It's a good thing he didn't waste his time showing up.

Now, this isn't to say we were mocking the people who woke up Sunday and realized they would need to rebuild their lives, more or less from scratch because this wasn't the case. We laughed about ourselves and joked about how we were planning on being left behind anyway. When the hour came and went, none of us were really surprised or relieved. However, during our day we did discuss the unfaltering belief some people have in doomsday/rapture/end of the world prophecies and the big one, you know the one, Winter Solstice 2012, came up.

This is one that in my younger days, I was incredibly scared of. I had no idea what significance the Mayan calendar had nor an understanding of what a period of great change could mean. Add to that some folks spouting that it's going to be the time of Armageddon, the return of Christ, the (next) date of Rapture and what's a teenager to do but worry? And continue that worry into their early 20's when friends of theirs are saying they just know it's true and that's when the world will end. But, here I am in my late 20's, with different friends, some research of my own and a husband who lived in Honduras for over 2 years and studied Mayan culture, religion, etc while there and afterward and I'm not worried about the world ending. If I'm wrong and it does, well then I was wrong. There's no sense to me in worrying about it and living the remainder of my days in fear.

I said as much while we were snacking away on pizza and having a laugh and one of our friends got deadly quiet. For a moment I was worried I had offended him somehow, but I hadn't. He said he's not worried that the world will end either, but he's worried about the panic and paranoia of others who do think that date will be the end. He's worried people who think the world will cease to exist on December 21nd will go on a spree of crime, looting and violence since there will be no one left to hold them accountable afterward. He's planning on taking time off work and holing up in his house with his wife, food, water and weapons just to be on the safe side.

I was completely shocked and a bit baffled. More so when my own husband said he had been considering the effects such a widespread and well known prophecy might have on people, and was thinking about defenses as well. People believed strongly that Y2K would happen and the world would end, it was well known and widespread and I don't recall any looting or pillaging happening. I was unarmed, at a party when it was supposed to happen and I made it safely into the new year. I don't see how this is different, but they think that it will be. Now, a few days later, I'm wondering if they have a point.

So my friends, I ask you. What are your thoughts on Doomsday prophecies in general? What about this big one in 2012? Are you concerned about people running rampant, about defending your home? I'm curious to see what others think, especially after that conversation.

P.S. I'll be back with photos from the weekend and some more cheery stuff either later today or tomorrow.

And I Feel Fine...

2011-05-21T11:48:00.000-04:00

I've not weighed in on this end of the world business at all, because I typically don't give Doomsday prophecies much thought. There have been a few of them since I've been on this Earth which haven't come to pass. I deal with these sorts of things by cranking up some music and doing the usual things I do, enjoy my time with my friends and family and let humor get me through. If the world's going to end, I may as well be smiling and having a good time when it does!

*dances* I'll see all of you lovely left-behinders tomorrow. I'm off to a beer festival today. If the world does happen to end and the raptor does show up, know that I've enjoyed and appreciated your friendships, insights, talents and support. And, at the very least it's a gorgeous day and there will be beer a'plenty.

Now this I could get excited about, because dinosaurs are awesome and I'd love to see one. Even if it was coming to get me.

I don't know about Versatile...

2011-05-20T13:54:00.001-04:00

I'd more consider my blog an eclectic mish-mash just like its writer, yours truly. But just the same, Linda from Olde Baggs and Stuft Shirts and Mina from Green Witch With Sprinkles have awarded this amalgamation of dork, artist, witch, bookworm, woman and so much more with a lovely award. Thank you, lovelies, it's truly appreciated!

The rules of the award were originally to share 7 things about yourself and pass the award along to 15 more folks. However, things got changed up by a certain wicked woman along the way and now encompasses one of my lucky numbers, 13. While she opted to share 3 things about herself and pass this on to ten bloggers, I'll be switching it up again to include another of my lucky numbers, 7. I'll tell you 6 things about myself and pass it on to 7 bloggers. I'm a rule breaker too, dammit. ;)

Random Things About Danni
1. The smell of wet dirt and ozone right after a rain storm is one of the most beautiful, comforting and uplifting smells in the world to me. I wish someone could bottle it up for me to carry with me when I need some strength or a smile.

2. I've been homesick lately for reasons that probably aren't what most people would expect. I miss seeing large wildlife on a regular basis. I miss the black bears that used to live next to my dad's house in the swamp, there would be cubs about right now. I miss deer. The largest animals I've seen down here, barring my neighbor the horse (seriously, one of my neighbors is a horse) are foxes.

3. I have an ever growing collection of blank books waiting for me to put something in them, but I won't put anything in them until I figure out what each one is perfect for. And if I spy a new one that I like, I will pine over it. It's one of my more ridiculous hang-ups.

4. I have the same excited fondness for dinosaurs as a five year old boy.

5. When I do laundry I don't mate my socks. I pull them out at random and they almost never match. This only matters if I'm wearing them though, most of the time I'm barefoot or in sandals. :)

6. I'm completely and utterly terrified by snakes and have a general uneasiness around spiders.

My Nominations, In No Particular Order

1. Rue from Rue and Hyssop
2. Wendy from The Year of the Cats
3. Angelina from Ivy on the Path
4. Roisin from Child of Danu
5. That Sassy Jersey Girl from Dark Mother Goddess
6. Cee from Oberon's Wood
7. Faye from Aradia's Cauldron

Don't worry if you aren't feeling like playing along, I'll still admire and think highly of you anyway!

****
Due to hearing some sad news, it looks like you get to learn a 7th thing about me today. Growing up (and into my early 20's if I'm being totally honest) I loved Pro-Wrestling, particularly the WWF. Saturday mornings were spent in front of the console TV with my little brother watching the likes of Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Hacksaw Jim Duggan and a host of other 'Good Guys' and 'Bad Guys' play out a plot and duke it out in the ring. The characters themselves were exciting, their costumes colorful and eye catching, their skills were impressive.

One of the most colorful and iconic of this brand of wrestler, Macho Man Randy Savage, passed away today. Rest in Peace, Randy Savage. Thank you for all of the memories of dressing up and playing wrestling, of the spirited arguments over who would win, of a bond shared between a young girl, her brother, her dad and even her mom who thought you guys were hunky.

In the Garden

2011-05-19T14:49:00.000-04:00

With the lack of sun, the heavy rains and ridiculous hail storm we've had since I planted my seeds, I'm surprised anything came up. But, the seeds have sprouted and I have more then a few baby plants growing up in my garden. I'm extremely pleased, considering this is the first year I've had my own garden and I have more plants then I hoped for.

Spinach and bush beans.

Summer Squash.

I've been spending a fair amount of time outside keeping the weeds down, because the bastards are persistent. Even after plucking, baking them under plastic and turning the beds they continue to come up in fairly large numbers. But, I feel like the veggies and I will ultimately win the fight with them.

Tomatoes.

Cucumber with wee jumping spider friend.

The peas and cucumbers are beginning to sprout tendrils. I'll need to gather some sticks and make them a trellis soon. The previous owners were kind enough to leave behind a few large metal tomato cages, so I'll be putting them to use once the plants mature a bit more.

Peas with wee tendrils.

Lettuce.

While the roses and strawberries are finishing up blooming for the season, the babies in my vegetable garden are growing up. I can't wait for Midsummer, our first harvest from our first garden and the sense of accomplishment (and tasty meal!) that will come along with it.

The Passionate Moon

2011-05-17T16:26:00.000-04:00

Wisteria Moon by Josephine Wall

The warmth of the sun ebbs, only slightly, as Mother Moon rises and the Earth and her children bask in the glow. The Hare moon, under whose lusty pull you may find yourself wanting to frolic with your lover; May's moon.

May is the month of Beltane and its moon carries some of the festival's fire. This is a time of passion, renewal, flowers and growth. The Earth has re-awakened and is warming up. The God and Goddess walk hand in hand once more, blessing the lands with fertility and love.

May you find renewal, love, passion and warmth by the Moon's light. Blessed Esbat, lovelies.

Duck Derby

2011-05-14T13:14:00.000-04:00

Since I gave a tiny glimpse of the Rubber Duck Derby in my previous post (that Blogger reverted to a draft during it's outage and was kind enough to cut half of it off. I had to bring up a cahce version, copy and paste as a new post and repost it sans comments *grumble*) that I would share a few of the photos I took at the race. After some sadness, the 'Great Blogger Outage' and surviving Friday the 13th (the best day of the month!) who doesn't want some cheerfulness ala Rubber Ducky? :)

Coming over the falls.

Go, Ducky Go! You're in First!

Just floating on by.

Grouping up at the finish!

I'm off to spread some mulch, do some weeding and hit up Artisphere, Greenville's giant annual art festival this weekend. What are your plans for the weekend?

Of Rubber Duckies and Passing On

2011-05-11T13:37:00.011-04:00

This past weekend was, in a word, surreal. Joe's birthday was Sunday, so we opted to take the weekend easy and just have some fun. No house work, no worries. And at first, it went just as planned, with stops at our local comic book shops to celebrate Free Comic Book Day and a trip to the park downtown for the annual Rubber Duck Derby. There's something ludicrously silly and fun about watching thousands of rubber ducks popping over the waterfalls and racing down the river towards the finish line.

We came home and I absconded to finish painting his birthday gift as we waited for friends to come over for a pre-birthday hangout with fire and s'mores.

As the night went on, I noticed stress and worry on my brother's face. He's not prone to either the way that I am, so I asked what was wrong and he said their (his and his girlfriend's) bunny had been acting oddly, not eating as much as usual and being a bit lazy. I assumed the heat was probably just getting to her but figured I'd give her some feel better petting. However, upon touching her I had the overwhelming feeling that she was dying. Not wanting to worry my brother, and having no explanation for my feeling other then I just felt it, I gave him the name of my vet and told him to take her in the morning.

Not the bunny in this story. This is one of our wild rabbits who I call 'The Strawberry Thief'.

They took her in, my brother went to work, telling me they needed to take her back for blood work in the morning. With that I put all thoughts of the previous night out of my head and Joe and I spent the afternoon lazing about playing video games, which is all he wanted for his birthday. No more then an hour and a half later, my brother's girlfriend rushed out of their room, panicked and hysterical, cradling the bunny who was wide eyed and shaking. I took the bunny from her and told her to get her things, I'd rush them to the vet. However, as I held the bunny I felt a tug on my guts and a sort of shift in the air and knew she had passed. I hadn't felt her stop breathing, but when I put my hand to her ribs, felt her heart had stopped. I layed her down on her blanket, petted her head and wished her a safe, peaceful journey to the Otherworld. My brother and his girlfriend opted not to bury her in our yard, as the clay soil gets too hard for us to dig without an auger past a level of about 1.5 feet and something, I suspect a fox, has dug up the baby bunny I found under the hazelnut tree and buried on May Day.

This is the first time I've held a dying animal fully in my arms. I've held the paws and kissed the heads of many of my beloved pets as they've passed over in the vet's office over the years, but I was loaded up with grief and never experienced the feeling of passing. Not the physical feelings per say, but the indescribable feeling of knowing without knowing. It was a strange feeling, not uncomfortable but not like anything I've experienced before. I've been coming across the dead more often recently, it was only a matter of time before I would come into contact with the dying. However, it effected me more strongly then I anticipated and I spent a good portion of the night in thought or in tears. I think I owe my husband another special day, for being awesome, comforting me and not once being at all annoyed that I was like this on his birthday.

An odd, full circle sort of weekend. A celebration of birth and the passage into death. Have you held an animal as it crossed over before? How did it effect you the first time? Do any of you walk a path where the dead and dying are very much a part of it and if so, would you care to share a bit about it?

Welcoming May

2011-05-04T22:02:00.000-04:00

Beltane came and brought with it the electricity and warmth of my soul that I've come to expect. I left my tithe to the forest, along with some pretty stones for the fae and beer for the goblins who live here. The entire day was low key, calm and perfect as it was exactly what my spirit needed.

From the dewy dawn, pink from the sun's kisses and heralded in by the buzzing of bumbles and calls of many birds,

through the afternoon which lingered heavy and hot as we worked in the garden and lawn, to the twinkling stars dancing in the navy blue sky overhead as we lit our first fire in our home;

Does anyone else see the woman in the fire?

Peaceful, perfect and renewing.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, celebrated the first of May, loved much and laughed even more. Beltane Blessings (a wee bit late) to you.

The Beltane Altar

2011-04-29T21:42:00.001-04:00

Despite all of the things that make our house feel like home, I felt like I wasn't spiritually home until my altar was set up. Seeing it in my bedroom when I wake and before I go to bed each night helps me to feel a bit more grounded. With the greens of spring adorning it, my altar is set for the season.

My beloved bee rests at the center, between the cauldron and my heart stone.

At the back of my altar, raised up, sit Brighid (painted by myself) and the Horned God (a gift from my beloved witch sister, Anathemum). Before them rests my copper plate, where I often place offerings.

A large seasonal offering of fresh flowers and herbs reside in my stag head dish. Tomorrow evening, this will be given to the forest along with fresh fruits, honey and wine.

The batik fabric that everything rests upon is a recent acquisition. The greens and browns reminded me of the awakening Earth and the Sun patterns call to mind that its strength has returned. The oak leaves were torn from my tree and scattered in the yard during the storms earlier this week and upon finding them, I felt the need to place them here.

For the first time ever, I will be able to celebrate Beltane outside, around a toasty fire. My brother and I dug a fire pit in the back yard this afternoon and the lovely and I have been collecting large stones to surround it as we find them. I intend to practice jumping it, as I'm a terrible jumper with awful balance and may have made it a hair larger then intended. I've gotten the meade and plan to make merry until sometime the following morning.

What do you have planned this Beltane?

Can You Identify This Plant? Round 2

2011-04-27T08:00:00.025-04:00

Hello my lovelies and welcome to the second round of 'Can You Identify This Plant?' As with the previous round, I will post some photos of the plants in question and if you know what they are, let me know! This round will revolve around two trees, one which is quite small and flowery and one which is much larger and likes to drop sticks in the yard.

To help with the identification, I'm in Hardiness Zone 7, North-Western South Carolina. You can click any image to visit its Flickr page where you can get a larger view.

Unknown Tree #1: Small and Flowery.
The first photo shows the tree as it was beginning to bud last month. The last two photos were taken over the weekend.

Unknown Tree #2: Large and Leafy.
I took quite a few photos of this one, since it has interesting leaves and seeds and the bark is different on the trunk and branches.

Full Tree.

Bark at the trunk.

Close up of the bark on a branch.

P.S. I need a wee bit of advice from those of you with more herb gardening experience then myself. You see, the previous owners planted thyme, which they did not make any effect to contain and it is now literally taking over my garden. As it stand right now, I have three massive bushes producing more thyme then I could feasibly use in the next year and a bunch of small, intrusive bushes starting up in the middle of other plants, such as my rosemary and sage (one of the sage plants is not looking too hot either.). My question is this, at this point how can I go about cutting it back, removing the intrusive bushes and containing it? I'm not above digging up a large bush if need be, I just want it to quit it's quest for total garden domination.

One Month Later

2011-04-25T14:53:00.000-04:00

We've been in the house for a few days over a month now and things are starting to calm down. Most of the packing is finished, I've got my desk and craft cabinet temporarily set up until my brother and his girlfriend move out in August and I can create my permanent craft space. The living room and kitchen have come together nicely and our bedroom is more or less settled, aside from the lone box of random junk that's residing there until I figure out where to put it.

The vegetable garden has been more of a tedious task then I had anticipated. You see, I'm one of those odd people that really doesn't mind weeding; to a point. I went to work on the raised beds two weeks ago, plucking the weeds out by the root and spent the entirety of a week doing so as there was nearly no visible soil beneath the weed cover. Over the weekend I went outside to turn the beds and lo, half of the weeds had resprouted!

I've begun the arduous task of plucking all of the little buggers out once more and intend to turn the beds to break up any lingering root systems. If anyone knows of any other chemical free ways to conquer them, let me know. I want to get my plants in the ground as soon as possible.

I've been thoroughly enjoying the yard, as has Joe when he isn't mowing it. He's cursed the grass for being so healthy several times and each time I tell him it's better to have grass that grows well then yellow and dying! I helped mow the lawn once but I left a few straggler pieces of long grass here and there, so now I'm off lawn duty. The man and his lawn induced pride. *sigh*

The search for a day job continues to frustrate me as a position I'd actually enjoy continues to elude me. I've interviewed a few times, but nothing has come of them. I'm trying not to let my spirits droop too low, but it's difficult. As much as I love being home, tending things and getting my art on, I'd prefer to have an income to help pay for the ridiculous cost of my car's transmission needing to be rebuilt and doctor's bills and to spend on things which are fun as well. I'll keep searching, applying and interviewing and keep my hopes up, but after 3 months of searching it's getting old.

In better news and for those curious, my eye appears to be doing better. The specialist I saw reassured me that no corneal transplant would be in my future unless my eye becomes scarred to the point where glasses can no longer correct my vision. She also answered a few of my questions regarding surgeries for my condition, no surgery including a transplant, is a guaranteed fix. She also informed me that despite my dislike of being medicated, I should get used to it at least until I'm old enough for my immune system to begin to slack off a bit. It turns out that when you have a strong immune system it over-compensates for the necessary healing after an outbreak, causing the scarring to be much worse. The medication lessens the chances of fresh outbreaks, which lessens the chances of permanent vision loss due to scarring. So for the time being, the pill taking will continue and my vision is nearly back to where it was previously. Hopefully I can avoid the doctor's office for another few months!

P.S. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend/Easter! We don't typically do anything to celebrate, aside from eat latkes which is a tradition Joe introduced me to, but the man did something silly yesterday morning and created an egg hunt for me in the yard. Here's my favorite find:

Witches in Fiction

2011-04-24T16:11:00.000-04:00

If you weren't aware, Magaly over at Pagan Culture has been hosting a wickedly witchy blog party for the past few weeks, which celebrates witches in fiction. To celebrate along with her, I thought I would share with you the witches in fiction that I most relate to; unsurprisingly there are three of them. :)

Elphaba Thropp; Wicked Witch of the West, Luna Lovegood and Granny Weatherwax. I sort of got lazy with the background, so you'll have to forgive the white.

Luna Lovegood of Harry Potter fame is a light-hearted daydreamer, with a clever wit and infectious sense of humor. She is a fairly powerful witch with an open mind and a loyal friend. She is a bit quirky, a bit of an eccentric and has a sense of style that is uniquely her own. Luna holds many 'odd' beliefs, including steadfast belief in the existence of magical creatures thought only to be fantasy. Given my own wonder and belief in folk lore and mythical beasts such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, I have to tip my pointy hat to her. I relate to Luna in regards to my inner child, the light-hearted aspect of my spirit and given her later career as a naturalist, in my fascination with all creatures and plants.

Elphaba Thropp, the Wicked Witch of the West, is whom I most relate to in my current phase in life. She was a misunderstood teenager and given a bad rap by her peers, but she proved to be a loyal friend in spite of their shortcomings. She learned to harness her abilities later in life, and took an interest in the well being of her country and those who could not easily defend themselves. An activist, a lover, an intelligent woman; Elphaba the bookworm, the passionate. A Wicked Witch who is not afraid of defying gravity or social norms.

I can only hope to age as well and grow as witty as a lot of folks' favorite crone (but don't tell her!), Granny Weatherwax. Considered to be the greatest witch in all of the Discworld, Granny has no use for the flashy and showy magic of wizards instead preferring to know more then everyone else and using that to her advantage. She is a talented herbalist, midwife, and shapeshifter; often 'borrowing' the mind and eyes of an animal. Her tough love attitude, stern icy blue gaze, sharp tongue and temper have given people the impression that Granny may be a witch most evil, but her actions have time and again proven otherwise. Still, others, including Death himself, give Granny a wide berth and as she says (she) 'had walked nightly without fear in the bandit-haunted forests of the mountains all her life in the certain knowledge that the darkness held nothing more terrible than she was.'

Which fictional witches do you most relate to? Are there any that you connect with, whose personality you can see in yourself? How about witches you aspire to be more like?

She Is...

2011-04-21T23:36:00.000-04:00

She is the thickets and forests,

She is the mountains and valleys,

She is the sandy shores,

She is that which gives, sustains and destroys life.

She is our home, our mother, our Earth. May we honor, respect and protect her each and every day.

"Oh Goddess, Source of Gods and Mortals,
All-Fertile, All-Destroying Gaia,
Mother of All, Who brings forth the bounteous fruits and flowers,
All variety, Maiden who anchors the eternal world in our own,
Immortal, Blessed, crowned with every grace,
Deep bosomed Earth, sweet plains and fields fragrant grasses in the nurturing rains,
Around you fly the beauteous stars, eternal and divine,
Come, Blessed Goddess, and hear the prayers of Your children,
And make the increase of the fruits and grains your constant care,
With the fertile seasons Your handmaidens,
Draw near, and bless your supplicants."
- Orphic Hym to Gaia, Translated by Virginia Stewart.

Recent Works

2011-04-19T15:05:00.000-04:00

I'll be honest, since we've moved I haven't gotten very much done in the art department. My art journals are sadly neglected and my watercolors have been a bit dry and lonely. I blame it on a combination of the moving blues, an incessant need to to be outside all of the time and a visit from the in-laws. All that being said, I have completed a few things, which surprisingly, have all been for myself and the lovely.

A few weeks ago I had the idea to create a painting based on Mesoamerican (Mayan, Aztec, Etc) styles for Joe as he has a deep seeded fondness for their artwork, culture and mythologies. I hemmed and hawed for an entire weekend over what to paint before deciding on Quetzalcoatl the feathered serpent. I cracked open my Art History books, thumbed through some of the books and photos Joe has from his time in Honduras and got to work.

12x24 Acrylic on canvas.

The final product is a blend of the bright bold style of Mayan paintings and my own typically more flowing style. This painting was incredibly difficult for me to do as it is so far removed from my favored style and subject matter; when I was about half way through I hated it. Now that it's complete and Joe loves it, I've grown a bit more fond of it, though I still have a difficult time believing I painted it.

I also painted and stained a box that was supposed to house my Faerie Oracle deck, however, I neglected to measure the box or the cards until after I had completed it and it is about 1/4" too small.

Acrylic on wood.

This is painted with my beloved bee who is a symbol of wisdom and communication as well as foxglove, which are often said to be a protective flower as well as being a plant that attracts bees and fairies alike. I will find something else to keep in it soon enough, I'm sure.

While all this painting was going on, a friend of mine offered to teach me the basics of needle felting. As someone who doubts she can ever have too many hobbies, I jumped at the opportunity to learn something new. She was kind enough to gift me with 4 needles and quite a bit of wool in different colors. I started off with a simple piece which I plan to hang from fishing line in my dining room window:

Is anyone really surprised by this?

After she went home I was left with the urge to make something else. In an obvious progression and having an entire project under my belt I decided "to hell with patterns!' and began poking away at a ball of blue felt until I had a wee pretty who now adorns my desk:

I have plans for several creatures now dancing within my head, from a larger Gaia to mischievous goblins, to dancing fairies to hang in the window, to a small dragon. But first, I have to gather some information on natural dying methods as well as kool-aid dying so I can put some color into the 4 oz of undyed natural roving sitting on my desk.

If you have any experience or suggestions on the matter, please, let me know!

Seeds Across the Moon

2011-04-18T00:01:00.001-04:00

The wind blows, gently carrying the seeds of trees and flowers across the full face of April's full moon. The Wind moon rises, showering new life with her soft light as the warmth and renewal of Spring blows in beneath her.

The wind moon is a moon of new beginnings, a time to put your wistful sighs and dreams into action. This is also a moon under which to celebrate the spirits of the animals and plants around you, honor them as their strength returns.

May all of the seeds of change and new beginnings you sew on this night flower brilliantly. Blessed esbat, lovelies.

Above All...

2011-04-15T12:18:00.001-04:00

And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.
~Roald Dahl

p.s. For those of you who are plant savvy and tried to help out identifying the plants in my yard, I've added a few more photos and my hardiness zone into the previous post. Go check out the updated Can You Identify This Plant Round 1 post.