Pagan Shopping!

Ok, well I just love the Michigan Renaissance Festival. Pretty much it is like one big Pagan Marketplace, every booth and store has something pagan. Anyways I got some great things. I went there with a set amount of money (very easy to whip out the credit cards there), and a shopping list. I am rebuilding my whole alter. Long story short, a few years ago I moved away and left all my stuff with my Mother, her boyfriends bible thumping sister burned it all in a effort to "cleans the house of the devil" when she found my stuff during a garage sale. Well she will or has already found out that karma is a B**ch!! So... back on subject, I got myself a broom, chalice and a ceramic jug for my waters I use for ritual, herbalism, and scrying. Tiffany, Meghan and I all got brooms. I choose all my tools on how they speak to me, though touch and feeling. When we went to the broom shop, I walked up to the brooms and I felt the need to go to the back, so as I walked in the back a broom caught my skirt and I turned and there it was! Its handle is a natural greenish color wood and all twisted. If you like my chalice and Jug (travel mug) you can see more of Paint Creek Pottery and purchase them here, also if your interested in these brooms by L&W Creations, you can contact the artist by email here. Here are some photos.

(Meghan, Me, Tiffany)

(Me and my awesome twisted wood broom)

(Meghan and her twisted wood broom, with the Goddess carved into it)

(Tiffany and her Husband Ryan, and her twisted wood broom)

(Tiffany and her Triple Moon Pentacle headpiece)

(A close-up of the stoneware chalice and jug)

I always advise people to go to the Renaissance Fairs, you can find unique things for your alter, every day pagan needs, and just fun things in general. I will be going back in two weeks again with my Mother to get more things.

So, until next time...

My not so Witchy Garden

Ok well, most of the blogs I read have shown their gardens so far. Well my garden is a very sad thing. I planted last spring, and that was it! I have been so busy this summer plus with my injuries. In june I fractured my sacrum (bone holding spine, hips and pelvis), then once I was kinda healed and back to work I got a foot contusion (bone bruise). Ontop of those injuries, I had school with a crazy professor who thought this was grad school not undergrad entry level class. So, I am so very new to herbalism and learning my herbs, this is my first year of sorta gardening. So anyways here are some photos!

That is me, trying to clear the area for next years REAL garden

My Mom, see how tall those things are. I think they are vervain? Here is some more...

My Lavender, its really coming in nice!

The huge hibiscus! I will be drying those soon!

The roses, those also will be dried and also made into rose water!

The gigantic raspberry bush! Its working on its 3rd batch of berries! I love these, I want to plant a blackberry bush next to it in the spring in the hopes they might mate.

Last, but not least the mystery plant. I have no clue what it is. Anyone know?

Ok, until next time...

Keeping your MOUTH SHUT!

So, I have learned to just keep my mouth shut. Now I am not making claims I can make things happen just by saying or suggesting it. But I have had 3 clear instances where this has happened.

First off. my best friend is named Tara, she is married to a man named Ryan (I wont write about my feelings on him) and has a 2 years old son named Gabriel. Ok, so back in August of 2005, I was moving out to Milwaukee, WI for a contract photographer position with my ex Bruce and his 3 children (Brett, Brandan and Hanna). So Tara was just acting off. I looked at her and pronounced that she was pregnant! She told me I was insane and my witchy ways have gone to my head. Low and behold 9 months later she was going though labor and poof Gabriel was here! So about a month ago, we are on our way to a concert (Mindless Self Indulgence) and I again say she is pregnant. I am not predicting anything I was just joking, like I was the first time. Well I get a call and she is 6 weeks preggers. Now I guess I am to blame. Its all my fault (she was on the depo shot this time)!! Both times I said she is pregnant and 4 weeks later she finds out she is 6 weeks pregnant. Now I guess I can tell if a woman is 2 weeks pregnant (wink wink)...

Wait there is more.... so I am at work. I have a dementia patient who is like 90 some years old and his son is there. Well this patient proceeds to try and get out of bed. I say no, he ends up fighting me and kicking me. His good for nothing son stands at the end of the bed wringing his hands and is like I hope he doesn't have another heart attack. Well I hear this and in my effort to keep the old man in his bed I say "stay in bed, you don't want to have another heart attack"... not a minute after I say this does my guy go blue and proceeds to have a heart attack! THANK the Goddess that we all acted fast and he came out of it. Since that incident he has come though my unit a few more times on his visits to the hospital and been just fine and combative like a good ol' dementia patient should be! I have yet to see his son with him since.

So anyways. I am just keeping my mouth shut! (I hope all of you got a laugh out of this!!)

A quick Blog while I am at work...

So... it is 6:24am and I am sitting here after a slow night of work with a hour until I can punch out and go to bed. So what do I do? I look at petfinder.com.... Sigh, I must be a idiot. I love animals, and I am looking at the kittens. Geeze! I want them all. I have decided since there are so many people I know who have kittens throughout the year, that I will only take the black ones. Its sad that in the 21st century people still hurt black cats, saying they are the devil and witches familiars. Well this Witch will take them in! So I am on a mission to take in and rehome the black cats in me area that I can take. I know I can't save them all, but I can save some. I might just keep a few. I do have 3 cats already though, lol, I must be crazy.

Until next time....

Pagan Child’s ADC's

This is something cute I came across!

A Pagan Child's ABC's

A is Athame, the knife that we use.
B is for Beltaine, when partners we choose.
C is for Circle where we all are one.
D is for Deosil, path of the Sun.
E is for Esbat, when we gather round.
F is for Fire and its crackling sound.
G is for the Goddess in beauty and love.
H is the Horned One, our Father above.
I is for Imbolg, candles light the way,
J is for June when it's Midsummer's Day.
K is for Karma, the things that we do.
L is for Lammas, harvest's almost through!
M is for Moon, riding way up so high,
N is for Nighttime, which darkens the sky.
O is for Ostara, when we hunt for eggs,
P is for Pan, with hairy goat legs.
Q is the Quarters and there are just four,
R for the Rites when we open the Door.
S is for Samhain, end of the year,
T is for Tarot cards, futures to hear
U is Undines from the watery West,
V is Vervain for protection and rest.
W's Widdershins, the path of the moon.
X is the sign that's the sign of the God.
Y is for Yule and the sun's return,
Z is the Zodiac, 12 signs to learn.

My furture plans...

Ok, so some plans for the future. I want to be a mother, very very badly. I am a single woman without any real prospects of a husband. So I am a woman of the 21st century! I don't need a man to have a baby, just his DNA. LOL, as much as I keep telling myself this one I have yet to find my ideal "sperm donor". At the major sabbaths and solstices I ask the Goddess for her help. Anyways, in preparation for my future motherly ways, I am in the very very hard process of converting over to organics. Since I moved back in with my mother, 1 to save on rent, 2 because I am finishing my college degree, and 3 because she is lonely. We have converted to 100% organic milk, cheeses, yogurt, and eggs. We purchased half of a organic cow and pig. (I try not to think about it) that is filling up our standup freezer and kitchen freezer. I am trying as best as I can to grow my own herbs. That is not going so well. I grew organic raspberries, tomatoes and strawberries this year without problems though. YAY me!

Your probably wondering where I am going with this? Well in my quest to become a mommy, I am trying to eat correctly and flush out all the impurities that processed foods have placed in my body. Man, can I tell you that I feel a lot better eating the same things I do normally, just organically. A lot of people tell me that they would eat organically also if it wernt for the cost of the food. Well I am here to give you some tips in purchasing organic foods. Here in the Detroit, Michigan area we have Costco, I know there is costco in other states, and we have Sams Club also. But Costco has a lot of organic foods. And they cost the same if not less than the processed foods. I also shop at Meijers (michigan store comparable to WalMart). Now the cost is a bit more at Meijers for the organic vs the normal non-organic. But by far is the result more desirable. You eat less food, you lose weight (no growth hormones!), and you have less health problems.

I am in the never ending battle of trying to find the time to cook. I like the food better when I do cook, but I keep myself busy almost always and I have to tell myself to slow down and cook my meals. This seems to be the case when going into work. I work from 7pm to 730 am at least 3 nights a week. I NEVER cook before I go into work. So I buy frozen organic meals. Some are good, some are not so good. But they are out there and the price might be a little more or not. Shop around!

I feel that when eating organically and cooking the foods, you are closer to the Goddess. When eating organically you are taking in what She has given to you without soiling it with chemicals and growth hormones. Also I am eating for the purpose of sustaining my body. But don't get me wrong, I love to eat and to cook. I am crazy in the way I have close to 100 cookbooks and find myself going through them to find recipes that I want to try. I even get the magazine Taste of Home. All recipes can be converted to organic meals!

Ok enough rambling or food, until next time...

Weekend Musings...Some advice to people new to the craft!

Ok, time for me to impart some advice. Look and look at as many things as you can. Read books, the good and the bad. Read blogs and talk to people. Pagans, Wiccans, Druids and the such are very open people. We may not come right out and say I AM A WITCH/PAGAN/DRUID, but if you come to us without any malicious intent we gladly will impart any knowledge we might have to those who seek it.

As, you can see I like to post witchy graphics on my page. I am sure you will see lots more of them to come, I just can't post a blog without some kind of eye-candy. Just right click over all the graphics and save them to your desktop, then go to www.photobucket.com or some other photo site and get a free account, then upload them. You can then share the graphics with your friends on your own blog or myspace. Speaking of Myspace, I have a myspace! Add me as your friend, just click the link myspace and add me to your friends. Sorry no facebook or whatever pages, takes to much time just to keep up my myspace page. Though I do have a paganspace page, but I don't go onto it at all.

Ok, now I want to introduce my blog helpers, I have three little helpers who are always with me when I blog for some reason. I shall go from oldest to youngest, though not in the order of how long they have been in my life. (sorry for the poor quality cell phone pictures)

My oldest is Orion, he was a rescue of mine. Been with me for 6 years. We call him our crazy old man, he is a peach colored medium hair. He takes off one side of his whiskers almost always. Sometime he takes off both sides. He is loving and crazy mean at the same time. I think he is bipolar. He only knows how to speak grumpy cat. He announces his arrival into any room with a string of meows and hisses.

My middle "child" is Maverick. Been with me for 7 years. A solid black medium hair. He was out of a barn cat at our old horse stable. He is my helper in the kitchen and when I go and work in the herb garden. He is the only one who is indoor/outdoor cat. I have tried keeping him inside, but he just hates it. If I am doing any ritual he seems to always be at my feet or in a perch close by.

Lastly, is Buffy (yes, named after Buffy the Vampire Slayer). She has been with me for little over a year, and she is a short hair tabby. She was a wild barn kitten who I domesticated from crazy wild (note the skull and cross bones collar) to now always in my shadow giving me love. I like to refer to her as my magick cat in training. She is always on the table when I am trying to prepare my herbs. (its and never ending battle) She will always try and get onto the alter to see whats going on. By far she is my most interested in the things I do. She is my shadow.

I love my kitties, they help me do just about everything. Even help me corral the three hell-beasts (dogs) in the back room (thats Orion's job). I always like to know they are with me, they "see" the things I don't or they know before I do. I guess I can call them a security system.

So, enough ramblings for one day... Until next time!