If you'd like to have your own blog here, start yourself a thread. Use your member name somewhere in the title so people will know who you are. The blogs here should be mostly about your spiritual path and beliefs.
I can't say that fall crept up on me. The shorter days have appeared as if by Magick. 6AM the other day was as dark as a napping dawn. I haven't seen a lot of color change in leaf colors, but there's a single tree in the neighborhood that hasburgundycolored leaves. I think its a beautiful tree because of how it stands out against a sea of green foliage. Saturday morning was spectacular. Sunny, which was cool because dawn has been foggy most of the week. There's a vase sitting in the kitchen window that caught the rays of the sun and turned them into rainbows that spread out across the room. The rainbow coffee maker was my favorite. Week 10
Sometimes when I first sit down to write this blog, I'll say to myself "I didn't really do anything this week. What am I gonna write about?" I've gotta sit and write for a while before my brain gets around to remembering everything and thinking of things in a Magickal light.
Celebrating Mabon was the main thing that contributed to Goddess time this week. My cold is in the process of passing. So far today I haven't sneezed nearly as much as I had all week.
I did manage to do a bit of research on Magickal uses for chive. I sort of found it by accident. I check some of my bookmarked websites a couple times a week to look for new content and to remind myself why they're there. The site that had the information I needed is one that I found through a link on another site and its sitting there on my list waiting for me to explore more thoroughly. I'd like to go through the list of food correspondences on the site to see if there are other entries that I don't have in my personal list.
My goal for the week: Clear out my bookmarks again. Seriously, it's out of control. Help! And now that I'm feeling better.....totally gonna start putting up the Halloween stuff this week!
I looked at that burgundy tree again Monday morning. I can't help it, it sticks out like a sore thumb. Now it's a bright orange tree. I couldn't help but think "Wow, that must be one heck of a tree!" I swear it changed overnight as though someone came up and painted it. The other trees are showing signs of color, but they all seem to be turning yellow.
I wonder how long the leaves will stay on this tree. One of these days I'll probably look out the kitchen window and see that its branches are as bare as a newborn, and the other trees will still have near full foliage.
Week 11
It's been a productive week.....mostly in my head.
I've come up with a few new things, but I've yet to write them down and try them out. I think I've got a good start in an experiment with something might be considered pop culture. It's my very first time working with pop culture Magick, so wish me luck. :wink2:
I'm planning to post about my new altar idea. I've got all the information I need, but I need to write it down in a more organized fashion. What I've currently got written looks like a brainstorm that literally got hit by a storm. newangel
Friday I was depressed, so I tried to cheer myself up by wearing my favorite outfit and putting up some of theHalloweendecorations. That turned into some tears and some sneezing. Stupid dust! That didn't cheer me up much, so I used my last resort: television. It did make me feel a bit better. Good enough that I did more decorating.
Last year I was so enthused about decorating, but this year I'm a bit stuck. Part of me wants to be lazy and just put everything up as it was last year, and the other part wants things to be different. I've compromised a bit. The skeleton that's been on my front door for 4 years now has a new glittery pipe cleaner halo. The ghost that hangs from the porch light still manages to scare me when the wind blows. I can't stay mad at his cute face though.
Friday night, I stood out on my front porch, barefoot in the rain again. It made me feel better. Definitely more grounded. The air smelled divine. If I knew how to make a candle that smelled like the air did Friday night, I might become a rich witch.
The other day I was thinking that maybe I should say a prayer, or do a ritual to Bastet to ask for better understanding of my kitten. She demands lots of attention and is quite vocal, but really that's not so unusual for Siamese cats. I do wonder if I'm giving her enough attention. As I was thinking, I stopped in front of the counter to pour myself some iced coffee, Dust Bunny stood on her hind legs and stuck her head up my nightgown. I'm not sure if that was a mystical green light, or if my cat has taken a liking to lime green plaid shorts.
Energy is finicky. Either that or I didn't have much focus the other night. Dust Bunny kept sitting by the back door and this was a bit odd. I felt a compulsion to put a new ward up over the door. I drew a white pentagram. This is my color of choice when I use pentagrams, as it is a versatile color that can be used for anything. The pentagram, on the other hand, had different ideas. It kept changing colors. That hasn't happened to me before. I checked on it again later and it was still changing colors. I figure that the energy either wanted to be all colors or maybe my rainbow loving self did it and didn't wanna admit it.
I don't think witches are taken seriously at my house. When I was standing out in the rain my boyfriend said: "You're gonna get wet." "Oh damn. Seriously?" "Yeah. I just seen part of a movie where a witch melted because of water."
He was playing around of course. He knows that I'm a witch and he knows some of the people that were in the coven I used to be in. That's usually a big "No, no!" in most groups, but I don't think any of the other members made much of an effort to hide it. Me personally, I've told a couple people that I'm a Witch, but I don't recall telling anyone who else has been in the coven.
Today, for the first time, I've seen commercials for an upcoming series on Lifetime called: "Witches of East End." My mom jokingly says: "That can't be far from here. We live on the east side." I wanted to tell her that I've reffered to myself as the "Wicked Witch of the East Side." I refrained though, because I wasn't sure how that would've gone.
My bookmarks are still overcrowded. I did remove one whole site from the list though. But I put a new one in its place, so I'm back to square one.
I have made progress with the research I've been trying to do. I have more proof as to a certain part of my thesis being false. That's perfectly ok because that part didn't need to be true. Now I just need to make a case as to whether my thesis in general can possible. Yeah, I know. This sounds a bit like ridiculous rambling, but once I can drag my tail through the historic research, I'm planning on posting everything.
My goal for the week is to start writing things down and typing things up on the computer. I'd also like to try to find the list of herbs I used when I first blessed this home. I'd like to update all the Magickal things I did, and it would be nice to use the same herbs.
This girl goes to Walmart too much. I'm surprised that they haven't thought to charge me rent.
I found the incense aisle. A box of 40 sincense sticks is $1. There's not a lot of choices when you compare the selection to most magickal supply stores, but $1 sounds wonderful. They've also got the cone kind, but would you believe that this witch has never used cone incense? I've got a little coil looking thing that I've intended to use for holding cones, but it's been sitting unused in my Magick box for a few years.
I'm thinking of buying some incense since I'm running low. Now that I think about it, I haven't bought any new incense in maybe 6 or 7 years. I did think of buying my mom a gift box of candles, incense and a holder for both, since they were purple and that's her favorite color, but when I was telling her about the incense holder I want, she told me that she's allergic to incense. Wow, that would've actually been a bad idea. I guess I'm going to have to crack my window the next time I do a ritual in my room. It's a good thing I haven't smudged the house with the homemade incense like I've been planning to do.
I'm also thinking of buying a new incense holder. I've never had a fancy one. The two that I've had were identical and made simply of plain wood. The first was given to me by my former high priestess and it had my Magickal name written with Sharpie in Theban on the back along with a symbol or two, but I lost it somehow. The current one has no adornment. If I remember correctly, my boyfriend got it for me 5 years ago. I'm interested in 2 of them at Walmart: A simple flat one with a cute celestial pattern and one that has a fairy holding a glittery, reddragon on one end and mushrooms are on the other end.
I collect mushrooms. I have a big mushroom candle that I've used on my altar and I have a partially finished mushroom collage in my BOS. I've got a mushroom container that I made out of plastic canvass that I'd like to repurpose. It could come in handy for Magick.
Week 12
I'm not sure where my memory is this week. I had to log on Wednesday morning because I couldn't remember what my goal for the week was. Then Friday comes around and I could only remember half of my goal. I did start writing down my ideas for pop culture Magick. As for finding the list of herbs I used when I first blessed this house, that's turned into a mystery. I found the different chants I used written in a notebook and I assumed that the list of herbs was written down with the chants, but it wasn't. I'm trying to think back on the night I put the herbs in a bottle and wrote them down as I put them in. I keep seeing the ugly yellow lined paper that I have. I guess I'll have to put this goal on a to be continued list.
Good grief, 4AM and this post is nowhere near done. Well, wait a sec. I've looked back over my post and that's not unusual. Okey dokey, carry on!
I did a Tarot reading for a friend of mine this week. She gave birth to a baby boy Thursday morning. I actually don't know much about it because our only contact is through Facebook and I haven't been on there in a little over a month. I came up with my own spread because I haven't come across any that seemed to fit this occasion. I'll be sharing the layout and my interpretation soon.
It's a good thing I got up for a minute. I happened to glance down at the shoebox that holds my Magickal books and folders that are currently being used for research and reference, and I saw one of my Magickal folders. I picked it up and looked inside. Sure enough, there was my list, written on the ugly yellow paper.
I went to Meijer Friday night and found the jar candle I want. It's $7.99. Wow, my heart didn't give out from sticker shock. That's a good sign. I seen that the label has a picture of mushrooms on it. No wonder I fell in love. I still can't find a picture of it to share. I think it's from a company called Candle Lite. I tried to search their website for Enchanted Wood, but their search feature only allows for searching by product number.
My new goal isn't just for this week: I need to work on getting ideas out of my head and on to paper. I've thought of something that would be good for Samhain, but it's more of idea than anything because I haven't come up with any specifics like correspondences and deities. Maybe I need a goal to not procrastinate..... newangel
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I swear all the chores need attention at once. Yes, I finally cleared out the bookmarks. I'm down to a mere 16. I was up to at least twice that. I had to show the Detroit Lions some love even though I'm not a football fan. [/color]
So many pictures of Hello Kitty slippers online and yet there are no pictures of any that look like mine. These are pretty close though.[/color] *The first 2 lines are from the chant I use when I make holy water. ^.^
Week 13
I'm very happy that I cleared out the bookmarks this week. Unfortunately, I've gone and filled it up again. I do actually stop and read some of the websites eventually. When it comes time to clear out the list, the ones that I think will be of further use get written down, then deleted, while the ones that I don't think I can learn from are simply deleted.
While I was looking at one of the newer sites I bookmarked, I was lead back to a website that I had looked at before. I bookmarked the site again, when I realized that it contained some familiar spells. You see, the material that was given to me by my former High Priestess never had any indication of origin; no author names, no book titles nor urls. This is why my online BOS has mostly material written by me. I don't want to post material that doesn't give credit to its original source.
I did write down a couple examples of pop culture Magick that I've been working on, but I haven't tested them yet. My Samhain idea split up and took off in a couple different directions. That's what what I get for mixing spell writing with insomnia. I do have the tarot layout I developed finished, as well as a modified version of it, for different circumstances. I've just got to type it up and use the copy and paste spells.
There are a lot of pumpkin flavored foods out there, and I think I've bought just about all of them. Hopefully one of them will be good enough to include in a Samhain meal. Here are my findings: Pumpkin cheesecake cookies: Yummy. I wouldn't think of cheesecake when I think of autumn foods, but it's good.
Pumpkin pie flavored creamer: Too much pumpkin! My coffee wasn't even coffee flavored anymore after I used the creamer.
Pumpkin pie ice cream: Perfect. Pumpkin flavor not too strong or too weak.
Pumpkin flavored English muffin: Subtle pumpkin flavor. Almost subtle enough to miss it. I'm wondering if I should do a ritual to keep someone away from me. I never worried about keeping this person away from me before, but now that she's moved right down the street from me, I feel a little threatened. Not the hostile kind of threatened, just the "oh crap, here we go again" kind of threatened. She and I have been friends on and off since high school. We're sort of off at the moment, but I get the feeling that she wants to be on again. While I am the type of person to try to give the benefit of the doubt, she says that she's changed, but I believe in the old adage of "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." I think maybe that this would actually be a good reason to stop and assess where I am and how I feel about the relationships I have and the ones the are floating just outside of my orbit. Oooo, I know! I should do some introspective work for Samhain! Perfect timing, right?
This week, I'd like to update the wards and blessings on the house. I've been meaning to, and now that I have the list of herbs I was looking for, it should be easy.
I may be in a heightened state of psychic awareness this week. Here's what has happened so far:
Every now and then, I can say something right before someone on tv says it. That happened to me a couple times Monday night. During wrestling of all things. To me, it's both funny and a bit creepy. I remember doing that the first time I watched "X-Men: The Last Stand." My boyfriend said, "I thought you said you haven't seen this before." "I haven't. This just happens once in a while."
I'm wondering if I've got a visitor. The other night I was in the kitchen with Dust Bunny and she meowed. I responded with "What, Bunny?" like I usually do. I turned and looked at her and seen that she wasn't looking at me. She was looking into the living room as she was meowing. I didn't make much of it that night. Then last night I felt something like a touch on my back. It was a little odd to me since I felt after I had just started worrying about something. I'm hoping it's just someone trying to comfort me since I was worried over something that's rather scary to me.
Last night I also had a rather unique vision. I saw Dust Bunny run down the hall about 3 seconds before she actually appeared and ran down the hall. I found it doubly strange since she ran behind my feet, rather than over them like she normally does.
Here's something a bit random:
I remember marking a circle on the floor with torn up bits of paper a couple times. Lots of improvising on those nights.
Warning: Echo is hyper and lacking sleep. If She sounds strange to you, tell her to "go fly a broom."
I think that perhaps the touch was not only meant to comfort, but also to tell me that I was worrying needlessly. But that's just me. I am one of those people that tends to worry about everything. My mom would say that she never had to worry about anything because I did all the worrying.
I'm going to postpone my weekly goal for a while. I'm going to get some sleep and get myself feeling right as rain before I do anything magickal.
Friday, this witch will be celebrating her 9th anniversary with her sweety. Maybe I'll get lucky and he'll cook. :wink2:
*A little while after I wrote my last post, I got up to do my morning routine and saw that I was wearing two different slippers. blue_dozey
Week 14
I had honestly hoped that I would get myself back on track before posting this week's blog of goddess time, but things are still a bit off for me. My goal for this coming week is to simply gather together the herbs that I need and at least put them together in a jar. I'm not going to do any of the wards and blessings until I feel a little better.
I did manage to have a bit of goddess time this week, even if it wasn't what I had planned for it to be. I researched some stones online. Friday I had a dream that I was standing barefoot in a parking lot filled with stones, but it wasn't the usual rocks and gravel you see in parking lots and driveways, these rocks were all pretty and colorful stones. Some stones looked shiny and smooth like they had been in a tumbler. A couple stones looked like they were made up of glitter and totally unreal. I spent my goddess time trying to see if I could determine what the stones were. Some of the dream stones looked like blue quartz or lapis lazuli, rhodonite, amethyst or sugilite. The closest real stone that I could equate to the glittery rainbow ones would probably be labradorite.
One stone that I liked is called Holly Blue Chalcedony. It's kind of a misnomer because it the color can vary from blue, white, pink or purple. The stone made me smile because it's named Holly, and that's my name. However, I've seen the stone's name spelled both as Holly and Holley.
It reminds me of a sunset
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Do you know what I want? Tv to show a Book of Shadows that's a spiral notebook, or a 3 ring binder. Really, not all Books of Shadows are big as phone books and fancy as a Smithsonian display. I laughed at the BOS on "Witches of East End" because their BOS is about the size and color of the old family bible we used to have. But, it did give me the idea that a family tree in my BOS would be a good idea. I've read that some Books of Shadows have a sort of family tree that lists who previous coven members were and who initiated whom. Something like: Lady Moonbeam initiated by Lord Fuzzybottom
Lord Fuzzybottom initiated by Lady Snootyalots
Lady Snootyalots initiated by....etc. ...but that's not what I want to do. I want my own personal family tree there. I hope that my BOS will one day be an heirloom for any future children. Besides, no one needs to know that I was in a coven with Lady Psychowitch.
Samhain may be the "official" day that the veil between the worlds is it its thinnest, but I believe those who have passed on are already coming through to this side. I haven't seen any spirits in the waking world, but my dead loved ones are making appearances in my dreams.
A couple nights ago I dreamed about my dad. It was a little unusual because I don't dream about him often, and I can't picture myself using the F-bomb in front of him, like I did in the dream. I had a dream last night about a cat I used to have named Puka. Him I can understand being in my dreams right now since it was around this time of year that he passed away.
There's a spider in my bed right now, seeming to enjoy a nice stroll. He can stay there. I tend to think of spiders and their webs as decor at this time of year. If I could get them to keep their distance from me, especially when I'm in bed, we'd have a much better relationship. blue_blank In my last weekly post I forgot to mention that I got around to trying the pumpkin flavored bagels I bought. I didn't miss out on anything. The bagels are as flavorless as the pumpkin English muffins. My brain has a bad habit of coming up with ideas and things when I'm trying to fall asleep. Usually it says things like "You forgot to get something out for thaw for dinner," or "Hey, I remember that name you were trying to remember earlier." Over the last couple months it'll say to me "Here's a new spell/ritual idea." I'll tell it "Thank you, Brain, but I'm trying to sleep here." Monday, it gave me new ideas for something I had started to write months ago, but didn't finish because I deleted the file and everything else in that folder. I got to work on that project tonight, but I'd like to add a bit more to it before I post it. After I promised Brain that I would work on the project, it then tried giving me a dozen or so ideas for my afghan. I miss my normal sleep cycle. rolleyes
Let's see...I guess I can call this "Prayer list: part 2"...
*Mischief Night. I've read that fires set on this infamous night have decreased here in Flint, Michigan over the last couple years, but last year Flint ranked highest in the number of arsons here in America. I hope that when dawn breaks my hometown is still standing and not a bigger pile of cinder. *Safety.Halloween just isn't what it used to be. Now there's "trunk-or-treating" and early curfews. *Violence against children.I'm quite saddened by the number of children I see hurt and killed in the news. What really makes me mad is what seems to be a trend of mothers giving birth and immediately killing their infants. And if that's not bad enough, some of them are left in screwed up places garbage dumpsters, the back of a toilet and even thrown out of a window. Ladies, I understand that taking care of a child is a huge responsibility and sometimes that just isn't possible for some of you, but please, there are so many more humane options. Please seek help and alternatives. *Rain, rain, Go away way.It started raining here on Wednesday night and it's supposed to continue through Thursday night. Wet trick-or-treaters are sad trick-or-treaters, and wet-sad-trick-or-treaters might just become sick-sad-trick-or-treaters. *Parents of trick-or-treaters.A woman in Fargo, N.D. plans to give trick-or-treaters that she deems "moderately obese" a letter instead of candy this Halloween. She compares giving candy to an obese child to things like "giving a cigarette to a person with emphysema," "giving a drink to an alcoholic," and "giving heroin to a drug addict." Well, when she shows up for the next Buttholes Anonymous meeting, someone should deny her coffee because it's just like giving ignorant people a pen and paper. *Samhain. This one isn't exactly a prayer, it's just my honest hope that we all have a safe and happy Samhain.
I don't wear anything special for sabbats. I have no ritual robes and I don't find birthday suits and open flame appealing. I decided that this year I would wear my costume for my Samhain ritual. It made things feel a bit more special.
I had thought of a bunch of different things I could have done for Samhain, but in the end the side of me that's fond of quiet contemplation won. I had a dumb supper. This is actually quite easy in the middle of the night and you're the only person awake. I had a couple things that could be considered seasonal: pumpkin flavored bagel, caramel apple and hot cocoa with a bit of cinnamon. The cinnamon was my personal nod to Dia de los Muertos. Even though I have never personally celebrated it, this holiday does look fun. I didn't eat candy as part of my little ritual, but I did add a couple different kinds of candy to the dumb supper plate.
I cleaned my end table off and used it as an altar for the first time in a while. The first thing I noticed was that I had no idea where my altar cloth was. Oh well. I've never thought of it as very important. I have plans to make one, but it's near the bottom of my to do list. I plan to make one that'll be similar to the afghan I'm making.
Going through my magick box took a little while. I was not only getting out my tools, but I also took a stroll down memory lane. While I still don't remember exactly when I first took an interest in Wicca, I am a little bit closer to the answer. I found the candle holder that I made back in the early days. On the bottom of it I had carved the name I had used for signing stories I had wrote back during my junior year of high school, and I even added the date: 7/31/2004. That seems to be around the time I estimate that I started on this path.
I decided to try out the incense that I had been meaning to use. I had wanted an equal blend of pumpkin spice and Chinese five spice powder, but I have a habit of not using measuring cups or spoons most of the time. I think I ended up using more of the Chinese five spice powder. Since I don't have charcoal nor a burner for any, I used the incense method used in this YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP2uXOIgCuM I learned that if you don't have a funnel, this method can be messy. I think there might be a trial and error period needed to find out what kind of paper to use. I used a rolled up paper coupon. I got more burned paper scent than anything.
I think the biggest lesson that I learned from all of this is don't hold a ritual wearing stockings without a garter. Gravity wins. It's no fun losing your stockings as you're walking through the yard to leave libations out back and the door is all the way at the front of the house. Thank goodness there's some anonymity at 5 AM. :tongue:
Lastly, I got a present of sorts. As I was cleaning up and putting my tools away, I came across the re-writable CD that's been sitting in my magick box. A little voice says to me "You've had that thing for years. Do you even know what the inside of the case looks like?" "Um, no. I don't remember." I opened it up and saw a second CD sitting on top of the one I intend to copy my BOS to. I took a better look at the extra CD.It was my favorite CD!I thought that it had been stolen when the case that it had been in was stolen from me. I found it ironic that I found this CD after celebrating Samhain because on the front of the CD is a spider web that I had drawn on it when I first got it, around this time 5 years ago. I think this will be my most memorable Samhain. Having my favorite CD back beats the Samhain where I got to play doctor with a hunky neighbor. newangel blue_laugh
I couldn't help but think "Wow, that must be one heck of a tree!" I swear it changed overnight as though someone came up and painted it. The other trees are showing signs of color, but they all seem to be turning 
That didn't cheer me up much, so I used my last resort: television. It did make me feel a bit better. Good enough that I did more decorating.
I checked on it again later and it was still changing colors. I figure that the energy either wanted to be all colors or maybe my rainbow loving self did it and didn't wanna admit it.
I still can't find a picture of it to share. I think it's from a company called Candle Lite. I tried to search their website for Enchanted Wood, but their search feature only allows for searching by product number.
Yes, I finally cleared out the bookmarks. I'm down to a mere 16. I was up to at least twice that. 
