Weekly Winners 03/23/08 - 03/29/08

For the week of 03/23-3/29/08
Weekly Winners is the brainchild of the wonderfully Sarcastic Mom, Lotus

Feeding the Birds

Sorry only the one this week. Didn't get to take a lot of pictures.

Help us Help THEM!!!

For awhile I was posting recipies on Fridays but today I'm doing something completely different. I'm going to ask for help. Not for me. Not for one of my kids. But for a bunch of kids/people and one kids in particular. Now don't get me wrong I love all of Sadie's kids but I've always felt a sort of connection with K. I mean come on. How could you not love this face?



Anyway Sadie and some other great blogging ladies are going to be participating in Great Strides in Indiana. I can't personally walk with them, although I wish I could. What I can do is this though. Sadie has already offered to donate 10% of whatever you buy from our store Newrose Naturals that she has made. Well I'm upping it. ANYTHING you buy from our store...10% will go to the Great Strides walk and CFF. Or you can click one of our widgets and donate today as well. Either way let's help these kids...help the CFF find a cure for them.

Tools of the Trade - Herbs

As with any tool some herbs will feel better to use then others. Herbs can be used with insence to burn like on Charcoal. They can be used in Witch Jars, Blessing water, clarity bags. Some herbs are designated for certain things, but as with most things in witchcraft...there's no set rules defining them. I've used fire herbs in blessing water and water herbs in charging a fire spell candle. It's all in what feels right to you. To start out I went strictly with what they were listed for. But as I go along I've adopted a more of the "go with the flow" attitude with herbs. I blame that all on Tara :)

Herbs can be used to make tinctures and salves. The possibilities are endless. I'm hoping to go to a huge Herb show here in town at the end of April. I want some more of my own herbs to harvest and work with again.

Weekly Winners 3/16 - 3/22/08

For the week of 03/16-3/22/08
Weekly Winners is the brainchild of the wonderfully Sarcastic Mom, Lotus

Ready to Color


Eggs are done


Goodies set up


New Broom


Signs of the Goddess



New signs of Spring


New Project

Ostara

Well it was a nice calm and pretty much peaceful Ostara here. The boys and I dyed eggs on Thursday night. I actually remembered to get my jar of water out to make Moon Water in. I've left it out there for a few nights and I'll get it in the morning. I have some things I want to cleanse with it. Today was a nice peaceful day for me. It felt good. It felt calm. Now lets see what the God and Goddess have instore for us...

This time of year is about change...about coming out of your shell. About new beginnings. I have the good fortune of sharing a new oppotunity with a friend. I spoke to her tonight and we hadn't talked in quite some tiem. I can't say it was any one person's fault...it's just how life gets. I could have picked up the phone and called...or texted...or emailed...something. It is my fault for not doing that. But she is about to start a new chapter in her life. She's moving closer to me (1 hour vs. about 12 hours) and I'm looking forward to having her closer. Hopefully this new chapter will go as she wants it to. Only time will tell

Ostara Recipe

The following recipe comes from the book; Ostara by Edain McCoy.

Ostara Pasta with Goat Cheese

16 ounces penne pasta
1 cup rich milk
2 eggs, well beaten
12 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp basil (use 1 tbsp to 1 1/4 tbsp, if fresh)
1/4 tsp parsley flakes (use 1 tbsp to 1 1/4 tbsp, if fresh)
1 cup mushrooms, chopped, any variety (optional)
1/2 cup black olives, chopped (optional)
1/2 cup bread crumbs (optional)

Grease a 9" X 13" baking pan and preheat oven to 350' degrees.
Cook the pasta until just al dente, drain well.
Mix the milk & eggs together; set aside. In another bowl, mix the feta, tomatoes, pepper, basil, parsley, mushrooms and olives. Add drained pasta and blend well. Pour into the baking pan. Top with bread crumbs, if you desire, then pour the milk/egg mixture over the top, distributing evenly, allowing it to soak down into the pasta. Bake for 30 - 45 minutes, or until top turns golden.

Thursday Thirteen

Thought this week I'd do a list with 13 things about Ostara
March 21 -- Ostara -- Spring or The Vernal Equinox
Also known as: Lady Day or Alban Eiler (Druidic)

1. Traditional Foods: Leafy green vegetables, Dairy foods, Nuts such as Pumpkin, Sunflower and Pine. Flower Dishes and Sprouts.

2. Incense: Jasmine, Rose, Strawberry, Floral of any type.

3. Sacred Gemstone: Jasper

4. Herbs and Flowers: Daffodil, Jonquils, Woodruff, Violet, Gorse, Olive, Peony, Iris, Narcissus and all spring flowers.

5. Special Activities: Planting seeds or starting a Magickal Herb Garden

6. As Spring reaches its midpoint, night and day stand in perfect balance, with light on the increase. The young Sun God now celebrates a hierogram (sacred marriage) with the young Maiden Goddess, who conceives. In nine months, she will again become the Great Mother. It is a time of great fertility, new growth, and newborn animals.

7. The next full moon (a time of increased births) is called the Ostara and is sacred to Eostre the Saxon Lunar Goddess of fertility (from whence we get the word estrogen, whose two symbols were the egg and the rabbit.

8. The Christian religion adopted these emblems for Easter which is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox

9. The theme of the conception of the Goddess was adapted as the Feast of the Annunciation, occurring on the alternative fixed calendar date of March 25 Old Lady Day, the earlier date of the equinox. Lady Day may also refer to other goddesses (such as Venus and Aphrodite), many of whom have festivals celebrated at this time.

10.To celebrate Ostara some groups create special dishes made of flowers, such as stuffed nasturtiums or carnation cupcakes.

11. Activities appropriate to celebrate the day include those listed above, as well as randomly collecting wildflowers on a walk through the woods, or buying a mixed bouquet from a florist. The flowers you choose will often reveal your inner thoughts and emotions, and their meanings to you can be divined through books, pendulum, and your intuition.

12. Ritual cleaning is often done, though usually in the secular vein today. It seems people are driven by the need to throw open the windows to our homes and force out all the stale, winter air. Many of us clean the house from top to bottom; sweeping every nook and cranny from ceiling to floor; cleaning out cabinets and drawers, and scrubbing them, too. Often, many choose this time of year to change the liners in drawers, or to put away the winter bedding in favor of the lighter-weight summer linen. Heavy winter clothes are washed, folded, and put away and the lighter weight spring and summer clothes find their way into our closets.

13. This same mundane ritual of household cleaning can be applied to our inner selves, as well. Use Ostara to clean out all the mental cobwebs and to throw away all the old, negative modes of thought. Throw open the doors to your mind, heart, and soul and let the gentle breezes of Ostara breathe new hope and the vigor of youth into

This list was adapted from Wicca.com

Wordless Wednesday

Reorganization

Tools of the Trade - Mirrors

I know a lot will look at this and say huh? How are mirrors a tool for a witch. Well I've mentioned mental mirrors before in dealing with negative energy. I've talked to witches who have during a spell smashed a mirror and placed the shards deep in the dirt facing out to reflect negative energy and anything that might want to wish them ill will. Personally for me the on top of my alter is a mirror in the shape of the table. I know keep a charged mirror at my desk at work. You can use mirrors in tons of spells.

Charge one and put it in a plant or a bush in front of your house facing away from the house to reflect ill will. Keep a charged on in your purse to keep away negative energy. It's reflective...charge it with your purpose and you are ready to go :)

negative energy

I know I talked about this awhile ago in this post and not that I never thought it would come up again but here we are again. It's funny how you can be on the other side of a solid wall from someone and just feel the negative energy pouring off of them. This happened to me rescently. Once again the mental mirrors had to go up just so I didn't get nauseaus from being in their vicinity. It's a shame really. This person could have been a wonderfully great witch...but they decided along a different path that involved darker magicks then I prefer to get close to. They decided for harming a great deal of people instead of upholding the rede. All I can do is shrug and protect the ones I love the best I can.

Weekly Winners 03/09 - 03/15/08

For the week of 03/09-3/15/08
Weekly Winners is the brainchild of the wonderfully Sarcastic Mom, Lotus

Morning Shower



Signs of Spring



Adventures in Baking



Final Result




This is my first week doing weekly Winners so we'll see how it goes. Hopefully I'll get into it :) And yes those cupcakes we made completely by those two. With adult supervision but they read the recipe and everything

Reconnect with your Inner Goddess

My best friend Sadie not only has the blog Finding Perfect but she also has a writing blog Sadie's Storylines where she has infomation about the one book she has written and the one she is currently working on. Well she posted about the site Reconnect with your inner Goddess Well she pointed me at the site and I checked out my Birth Goddess. Here is what it had to say.

Feb 20 - Mar 20 ... OSHUN... Mother of rivers and the bloodstream, Oshun is the Nigerian goddess of universal love and sensuality. Oshun women are as flexible and predictable as the tides, being generous with their time for themselves during an "ebb", and for others during a "flow". They "go with the flow" of their instincts in order to find inner tranquility, but can lose sight of the real world in doing so. Sometimes it would be healthy for them stop drifting along without direction or intent, and instead to find a place where they can simply be.

Do this: Float on a still lake or pool but keep one foot anchored on the edge.

Kind of scary how accurate it is. Hers was as well. So who's your Birth Goddess?

Thursday Thirteen

Well I'm having trouble coming up with a list for this week so I'm going to go with a To-do list of sorts.

1. Continue research on the differences between Zen Cart and oscommerce for the stores (yes that says stores) It's looking like Zen cart though
2. Work on the redesign for Newrose Naturals and get things set up there for complete overhaul.
3. Look into add-on domains in hte hosting account so that we can share hosting for the 2 stores
4. Get better so I can get 3rd degree Usui Master Reiki attunement from Tara.
5. Find some way to coax muses out of hiding. Books do not write themselves
6. Finish various craft projects (knitting/sewing/crossstitch)
7. Clean the house
8. Cleanse the house
9. Redo Protection spells and strengthen the ones in place
10. Take stock for soap supplies
11. Work on recipies both ritual and otherwise
12. Decide which recipie for Flying ointment to use and make a batch
13. Make the Witch Jar and place it in the attic

Vatican lists new sins, including pollution

Ok I saw this article the other night when I opened up explorer. MSN is my homepage and there it was. I actually refreshed the page and blinked a few times before I actually read it. Now as some know I was raised Roman Catholic. I spent the majority of my life around and dealing with the Catholic church.

Quotes like this are what get me

“The poor are always becoming poorer and the rich ever more rich, feeding unsustainable social injustice,” Girotti said in the interview published Sunday.

Ok give me a break here. Please. You are kidding me right? The Roman Catholic Church...which I am convinced is one of the richest entities in the WORLD are saying this. Considering they could solve the US deficit with the stroke of a check and still have plenty to write all the checks to the victims of the Priests that couldn't keep their hands to themselves. (no I'm not still bitter about certain things *rolls eyes*)

It’s not the first time that the Vatican has sought to put a modern spin on sin. Last year, the Vatican took on the problem of highway accidents, issuing a kind of “Ten Commandments” for drivers against the sins of road rage, alcohol abuse and even rudeness behind the wheel.

I mean come on what's next? 'Thou shalt not drive a non hybrid car?' Or maybe... 'Thou shalt not eat food with preservatives' I don't remember seeing any of this in the bible!! Nothing about this while Jesus was turning water to wine was there anything about not letting your mule shit in the street. Road rage? Alcohol abuse and rudeness behind the wheel. OY there must be a lot of confessions at St Patrick's Catherdral after the Patty's day parade. That event encompasses all of it.

Ok yes I have my issues with the Catholic Church that I'm working on letting go. Trust me...it's hard. But hey according to their rule (that are apparently changing) I'm not only going to hell...I'm driving the bus. Anyone want a ride?

Tools of the Trade - Your Alter

Alters come in all shapes and sizes. Your Alter is where you will most likely do the majority of your spellwork, maybe even your meditating. Again like most things it's all in what feels right to you. And also how open you are about your chosen path. Some Witch's are still firmly locked inside their broom closet and outside the people in their home they don't tell anyone that they are a Witch. Others might be very open and way out of the broom closet and everyone they know, knows that they are a Witch. Me personally...I'm somewhere in the middle. It would kill my Grandmother who is a devout Roman Catholic to hear I'm pagan.

Your alter can be something as simple as a TV Tray or something more elaborate. I once knew a Witch that her Alter was an elaborately carved box....kind of like a footlocker only bigger and prettier. I've known Witches that have used a bookshelf to cleverly disguise what the actual purpose was. One of my favorites is I know someone who has an old dresser. They sanded it down and refinished it the way they wanted it and use the drawers for storage of their supplies. Heck I've seen people just go on the fly where ever they happen to be. I've been known to do that...especially if I'm outdoors.

Me personally. I have an old vanity table that was handed down to me with a little bench. It has some drawers that I keep small candles in and some other small supplies and then it has a mirror top on it.

As with most things Witchy I've come to find it's all about your personal preference...

*pulls out the dusting supplies*

Yeah I haven't updated a lot lately. Haven't been feeling all that great and have had a ton of stuff on my mind. I really want to get back into the swing of things. There's a lot going on in this household at the moment. Been a slightly stressful day.

Hubby's computer stopped working a few weeks ago...well we had a spare so he was using that. It went belly up today. We are trying a relaod and we'll see how that goes...the kids are anxious for Spring Break and I'm anxious for Ostara coming up. There's been a little bit of cleaning here and there trying to get the old out type stuff.

I did some spellwork with my best friend this week (researh my rear-end my dear. Cannot be called that any longer)and I felt a little better afterwards. I was accepted to Blog Her Ads so that shall be going up shortly :)

In the mean time...I leave you with this peep show...

Tolerance

Yeah I know probably not exactly what you would expect from this blog as a post but it just struck a chord with me today and I had to say somethng about it.

So I was sitting at my desk today and someone knocks on the door. It's the middle of the day. Hubby is at school and is due home in a lil while. So I get up answer the door and it's a young black woman. She's selling magazines. Now I had a really bad experience with these. A while ago same situation and I only had cash...didn't have the checkbook. My ex at the time did. Anyway...it was reasonably priced and I thought what the heck. Well I gave her the money...filled everything out and guess what. I never got any magazines. So in general I have made it a rule that unless it's a school fundraiser for a relative, one of my kids or one of the kids for the girls at work...I just don't do it anymore.

So she finishes her opening bit and I politely told her that I wasn't interested and that I had a bad experience in the past and I was sorry. Well she kept going. So I tried the more firm, "Look I've already said no." She keeps going about how she can't understand why I won't buy these from her (And at this point it was more then past experience...it was her attitude too) Finally I looked at her and said,

"Could you please leave I've already said no and I'd like you to go."

The response I get to that.... "It's becasue I'm black isn't it? You won't buy something from a black woman!" Mind you...she's STILL NOT leaving!!

So I take a few deep breaths and really don't feel like getting into the race argument with her. It's not the case I just didn't want to buy (nor can I afford to buy) magazines right now)!! Finally the only thing that gets her to leave is me telling her that I've asked her to leave several times and if she doesn't I'm going to be forced to call the cops. That's when she finally backs down off my porch and heading towards the neighbors.

I just don't understand why it has to turn into a race war over something like that. My son's Godfather is black...a large portions of my friends are every race and nationality under the sun...I just don't get it I guess...