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