Karen and I have the standards mixed in, along with a freebie from our friend Lyn Thurmond (see the Shameless Plug). We think you'll find it tasty fare. Ready to dig in? Grab your cuppa and let's devour this one :)
Happy Birthday this week to Samhaire Provost (!!), Kayla M. King Smallwood (!!!), Bill Mehno, Adelina Soto Thomas (!!!!), Gail Martin (!!), Kathy Jo, Hattie May Schermerhorn, Summer Rayne (!!), Cherise Briscoe, Xeelee Jashan (!!!!), Julie Baker (!!), Annie Cassick Baddo, Sarah Cass, TJ Terence Scott (!!!), and Tara Marie. May this be your best birthday ever, and may your next year of life bring you joy, peace, happiness, and all the very best of good things in abundance!!!
Kestril's Song of the Week
Finding Community
This is one of those times where it's really more about the video than the song itself; the song is actually about loneliness and depression. Though those themes do come through in the first half of the video, by the end of it there's resolution when the iconic Bee Girl finds a hive to dance with.
When this video came out in the 90's it resonated with me, despite the fact I really resisted grunge music. I was in college then and wildly happy for the first time as long as I could remember. I had managed to build up an armor around myself through middle school and high school, pretending that I didn't need anyone or anything. But it was such a release finding other geeks like myself. One of the things that really strikes me is that the other bees she finds aren't all dressed exactly alike (though there's the group doing the can-can that are pretty close). There's a "bee" theme, but they're all unique. A good community works that way too. The members aren't carbon copies of each other, but there's enough similarity that they can all dance together.
Keep dancing,
Kestril
In the News
Paganism is on the Rise in BritainANALYSIS: 'Pagan' is getting a makeover. Not everyone got the memo.
Fury over 'horse-slashing' comments
Police apologise for Pagan horse comments
Witchcraft accused flees community
Father Beheads Son over Witchcraft
Carer threatens to kill disabled patient with witchcraft
Anti-witchcraft committees formed in Kalifi
Vardavar Celebrations in Garni
Pagan Lore with Karen Szabo
Sunday, July 14
On this day, the birth of the Egyptian falcon-headed god Horus is celebrated by many Wiccans of the Egyptian tradition. Light a royal-blue altar candle and burn some frankincense and myrrh as a fragrant offering to him. On this day in the year 1988, a series of mysterious crop circles began to appear in a wheat field near Silbury Hill in southwestern England.
Monday, July 15
On this day, the birth of the Egyptian god Set (or Seth) is celebrated by many Wiccans of the Egyptian tradition. Set is an ancient god of darkness and the magickal arts. In China, this day is sacred to Ti-Tsang, the rule of the dark Underworld. He is honored with an annual Festival of the Dead.
Tuesday, July 16
On this day, thousands of Haitians begin an annual pilgrimage to the Saut d' Eau waterfall, which is scared to Erzulie Freda (the Voodoo loa of love and beauty) and is believed to possess miraculous healing powers
Wednesday, July 17
On this date in the year 1992, a Pagan-based radio show called The Witching Hour (hosted by Winter Wren and Don Lewis) made its debut on radio station WONX in Evanston, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago). In China, the Sun-Goddess Amaterasu is honored annually on this day with a Shinto procession called the Amaterasu-Omikami.
Thursday, July 18
On this date, the birthday of Lu Pan (the patron saint of Chinese carpenters and house builders) is celebrated annually by workmen and women throughout the city of Hong Kong. Also n this day, the birth of Nepthys (the Egyptian Goddess of death, and sister of Isis) is celebrated. This day is also sacred to the Goddesses Arstat and Copper Woman.
Friday, July 19
On this day, the birth of the Egyptian Goddess Isis is celebrated by many Wiccans of the Egyptian tradition. Isis is an ancient Mother-Goddess of fertility and a Neo-Pagan deity associated with magick and enchantment. On this date in the year 1692, Rebecca Nurse, Sarah Good, and Susanna Martin were hanged on Salem's Gallows Hill as punishment for the crime of Witchcraft.
Saturday, July 20
On this date in the year 1980, famous Dutch clairvoyant Gerard Croiset passed away. He was renowned as both a psychic healer and psychic criminologist. In Lithuania, the ancient Goddesses of love are invoked during an annual lover's festival called The Binding of the Wreaths, which takes place on this day.
Wishing you all a wonderful, happy, healthy week -- see you next time with more Pagan Lore!
Blessings, Karen
Sparkle and Shine with Sosanna
Over the last few weeks I've had some discussions with several people that led me to one conclusion. You cannot make someone like you. I know that sounds really simple and actually sort of obvious, however I’m astounded at the response I got when I made this statement. In two very different discussions and one real life situation I came to the epiphany that I too needed to accept that very statement myself.
As a member of the LGBT Community, I spend a great deal of time in groups chatting about current events. In one exchange a fellow group member suggested that we only needed to alienate those that hated LGBT people, in this case Christians, in order to make them accept “us”. We continued through the discussion in which I stated emphatically that you cannot force someone to accept you. You just can’t. My group-mate offered the following rebuttal. “We can alienate them as we have the KKK, until they are no longer a threat to us and indeed have to accept us.”
This statement blew my mind. I mean what day and age does this person live in that he now believes that the KKK has accepted LGBT people? As if it were a message delivered from the divine, news media popped up with a story on how the “NEW KKK” is sending its message to our children with a new show called “The Andrew Show” by – AShowForWhiteKids.
The next exchange was with a former Facebook friend who wanted to discuss the freedom of speech or freedom of religious expression as it relates to driving a load of watermelons in a 4th of July parade with a Confederate Battle Flag and a sign that reads “White History Month”. Our discussion went from a friend’s post of disgust on her wall to a new thread created by the former friend on her own wall discussing why it was ok to have a White History Month. After all we have Black History Month, LGBT History Month, and Latino History Month and so on. Post after post I tried to relay the fact that white people really have no idea what institutionalized racism really is. They may very well have been victims of incidents of bigotry by other races, but there was no way they could ever understand this from the minority prospective. The exchange went on and on until I just flatly said, you cannot make people change. The tractor guy is a bigot. You cannot make him believe anything else. You cannot change his mind. You cannot make him accept you.
Know how they say, “The third time is a charm?” Well that’s what happened. I’m looking at my niece post on her Facebook page. I see her using words like “wut” and sentences like “Wut ru doin?” Which led me to a status message stating that I really hated to see those types of things because it makes the poster look ignorant. Most of my 40 or so commenters agreed with my position. Then my little niece began attacking me on the post and sending private messages about how I had ruined her mother’s life and I quote “U put my mom life through a living hell so don't put that pity pity bull shit on me peace out”
Not even making that last bit up. I didn't reply any more. I sat in my chair beating myself up because another family member had bit the dust. I had long since removed her mother and her older sister due to posting things like, “Rednck Chick” and so on. I honestly didn't want to be associated with bigotry and yes, stupidity.
I sat in my chair, tears welling up because no matter what I did. No matter how hard I tried to make these people like me. They didn't. I sent her presents in the mail. I let them live with me when they were homeless. I fed them. I bought them clothes and at this point, because I didn't want her to look stupid on the internet, she posted pictures flipping me off. I actually told hubby, I just want to move from here. I’m miserable and they hate me.
He looked me in the eye from across the room and said… You cannot make them like you. No matter what you do, no matter what you say, they are not going to change their minds. Some people are just set in a particular way and they cannot see the truth. Remember Salem he said, those accused weren't even witches and yet the entire town believed them to be. No matter what they said, no matter what they did, there was nothing they could do to change their minds.
I saw a streak of light across the room and I finally got it. No matter what I say to my niece, my “other” sisters, my mother, my aunts… it doesn't matter. Just like I told my LGBT groupie and my former friend on Facebook, you cannot make them like you. I cannot make them like me, and now, I’m OK with that.
Don’t try to change yourself to please others. Those that truly accept and love you, do so because you are who are you. They do so even if you Sparkle and Shine.
Namaste and Blessed Be
Sosanna
)O(
Uncharted Seas with Captain Dave
Where Does the Time Go?
Too often do we find ourselves immersed in that horrid thing called “real life”, to the point that we wind up entrenched into a routine that resembles the following:
Wake up in a startled stance
Shut off the alarm that startled us awake
Brew coffee or set the kettle on
Go to the bathroom
Drink coffee/tea
Shower, shave, primp, deodorize, get dressed
Go to work
Fight traffic
Arrive at work
Do things that you can’t really, truly say are enjoyable, all so that you can receive ones and zeroes in your account that create some kind of score that you later spend on things you don’t really need
Go home
Fight traffic
Arrive home
Fix a quick dinner
Eat
Watch television
Go to bed
Wash, rinse, repeat
Seriously, what happened to living?
We have come into a time when we simply don’t have time for anything but our occupations. We don’t have time to do this, we don’t have time to do that, we don’t have time…for ourselves.
This isn't living.
This is slavery.
So, how do we find time for ourselves at all? To do the things that we would like to do, such as relax, meditate, enjoy a little spirituality, recreation, sexuality…fun?
No, I’m not talking about the weekends. I’m talking about everyday time. If you have to put off your time for living until a selected two-day time period, this is totally defeating the purpose of living. All you’ve done is scheduled something else. This is by no means how we were meant to live. We are not machines. We need time to ourselves…and unfortunately, given how things work today, that means we have to make that time.
How do we do that?
We set the alarm earlier. We get up, do our thing, then spend time sitting at our windows, on the rocks staring out over the bay, taking a walk through the woods, whatever.
Too early? Switch it to the evening. Come home, meditate, walk, stroll, relax, and then eat dinner…or do it after dinner…or do it before bed…or…well…to parrot the Nike shoe ads from a couple of decades ago, “Just Do It.”
We have become creatures of habit. We are performing monkeys. We jump because someone else told us to. It’s time to reclaim our lives. It’s time that we do what we need to do to remain…human.
Find the time. Make the time. Be the time. Don’t become lost in someone else’s agenda.
Be yourself. Let your brain take over, if only for a little while.
Be…human.
Ashé!
Sunshine's Meanderings with Kathleen Lane
After the stress of dealing with retrograde Mercury and really awful weather and the truly dreadful stuff in the news lately, I decided that a blog of something calm and peaceful and nurturing was in order. Besides, I simply could not get my head around anything unpleasant to write about.
I have friends from all over this country and lots of other countries too so I know that my comfort foods are not going to be the same as everyone but I want to share some of my favorites as well as the recipes for some of them.
My maternal grandmother was a truly amazing cook and ran a huge church camp in the Rockies for many years. She was feeding as many as 700 people at a time and she did it well and managed to find time to write a number of cook books. She and my grandfather farmed and managed to raise four daughters during the Depression years without the girls even realizing that there was a depression.
One of my all time favorite foods is her Bread Pudding. My husband had never liked bread pudding until I made it for him and now he is a convert. The recipe is simple and can be doubled or tripled or whatever it takes to feed your crew.
Bread Pudding
4 slices of stale white bread or whatever left over bread you have around. Stale cinnamon rolls work well and so do left over hot dog buns, etc.
4 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
A handful of craisins or raisins or any other dried fruit that is diced up small
4 cups of milk
cinnamon
vanilla
Tear the bread up into small pieces and put it into whatever you plan to use to bake the pudding in. I use a 9" square cake pan, but use whatever works for you.
Beat the eggs and sugar together, add the cinnamon to taste as well as the vanilla. Then beat in the milk. Pour this over the bread in the pan and lastly add the fruit and mix it all together.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. This is nothing like the bread pudding you buy at a bakery. It is custardy and very comforting. Let it sit for a few minutes after taking it out of the oven. We both love it and consequently we cut it into four servings. It keeps well overnight in the refrigerator and is just as good the second day.
The other side of the family being very different in background, my favorite recipe from them is corn soup.
Corn Soup
Hominy
Kidney Beans
Bacon
Pork roast
Since I don't live in an area where I can get traditional Indian Corn, I have to use canned hominy and I used two large cans, drained and rinsed. Then I fry it a bit in bacon grease.
Boil the pork roast until well cooked, cool and dice it up but save the broth. I use one big can of kidney beans which I also drain. I put the hominy, beans and about a pound of diced cooked bacon in a big pan, add the diced pork and pour the broth over all of it until everything is covered by about three inches.
Depending on how salty the bacon is, a little salt and some pepper is about the only seasoning corn soup needs. Bring it to a slow boil and let it cook for about an hour. This is wonderful served with fry bread. It makes enough to feed a family of four well and leave left-overs for the next day.
I would love to know what other people have in their "Comfort Food" file. I am sure that everyone has them.
The Spice with La'Trice Lott
It’s July, and in most parts of the country that means PEACHES!! Here’s a recipe I found on a great Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Sistahintheraw
I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks absolutely delicious. It would be great for a light but, filling lunch or make a great side for grilled chicken or fish. Give it a try and let me know what you think. Buon Appetito!
•1 package arugula salad mix
•1 organic cucumber, in strips with vegetable peeler
•1-2 organic roma tomatoes
•1/4-1/2 chopped red onion to your liking
•1/4 cup cilantro, chopped (optional)
•2 peaches, sliced
•1/2 cup Pepitas/pumpkin seeds, or more if you'd like
(you can use sunflower seed instead)
Mix all the salad ingredients in a big bowl, plate, drizzle on the dressing and serve.
DRESSING of your choice
Mid-Air Moxie with Adelina Soto Thomas
I tend to suffer from chronic energy blockages. Stress, anger, frustration, disappointment, and other negative energies tend to build up in my body like plaque on arteries. The longer this goes on without some relief, the stronger the energy build-up. It is not unique to me and this condition manifests itself many different ways for other people. For me, it could be racing thoughts waking me out of a sound sleep, irritability, lethargy, forgetfulness, bizarre dreams, and other equally annoying symptoms. Worse still for me, I lose the ability to use all my senses fully…to play…to focus and meditate…to engage psychic visions…to feel the magic in creating art…just to feel part of the natural world.
Now, in the past year, I have been under a great deal of stress and admittedly, I have not been dealing with it as well as I could. My mother and father passed within 5 months of each other, and my 17 year old cat passed a month after my dad. Combine that with a variety of other family and health issues and it truly sucks to be me right now! Not looking for sympathy here, because in not maintaining my energy levels, I just made it worse on myself.
I tend to get caught up in the ‘busy-ness’ of life and forget to keep centered. No, that is not entirely accurate. I tend not to ‘make’ time to ground and center. That is the truth of it. In my desire to be the ‘Fixer’ as my hubby likes to call me, I become overly responsible for everyone and everything around me till I don’t ‘feel’ myself anymore. I just keep on going…exhausted, stressed, out of focus…begging for relief…looking for someone or something to rescue me from the insanity that has taken hold of my life. Little things annoy and pick, pick, pick at my peace of mind….irritate me like a mosquito that keeps buzzing at my ear…stealing my clear vision and joyful spirit. My heart is heavy, my brain is full and my feet hurt…Calgon-take me away! (How many people actually got that reference?)
Enter the Goddess, who loves to respond to my pleas for help combined with powerful whacks to the side of the head. One of my favorite places to commune with Goddess is when I am driving in the car. I usually have a 30 + minute drive to work and use that time to pour my heart out to the universe in the privacy of my car. It helps…a LOT…when I actually let myself do it. But when the world gets too much to face…when things are too painful to take on and the stress is too great, I just stop. I don’t have my car chats as often as I should and I neglect my own maintenance. Goddess then graciously gives me a thorough spiritual cleansing in the form of what I like to call “The Mighty, Mighty Freak Out”.
Yes, it looks and sounds pretty much the way you think it does. I started to talk to Goddess, just talk…and I think I said, “It’s not fair” when I felt the first energy barrier shift. I kept talking…and said, “It’s not right” when the next barrier came down. When I said “I don’t deserve this!” the final barrier gave way and with it came the cleansing rain down my face. Screaming, swearing, pounding on the wheel and crying, I drove all the way to work. By the time I made it to the parking deck, I was spent. And lighter…my spirit felt lighter and my energy was clearer. I felt relieved and able to focus.
My issues have not gone away, but without the extra negative energies strangling me I can think and see clearer now. My energy was blocked and nothing cleanses the palette of the spirit like a Mighty, Mighty Freak Out. However, as that kind of episode is pretty exhausting, it really is easier to do regular maintenance and practice mindfulness. It’s not always easy to keep the energy paths clear and the spirit open…but it is necessary for growth. Clear the weeds, wash the decks, shovel the sidewalks, and keep the paths free and clear. What you will see is the positive forces that come into your life flow easier, as well as the negative energies that don’t serve you being able to leave faster.
Sing, scream, clean, cry, write, draw, talk, paint, exercise, walk, dance, garden…whatever helps you expend the negative energy when it starts to build, do it! With a clear mind and spirit, you can tackle the issues that come up in your life. But neglecting those pathways just blocks everything, especially those things and people you love. It’s up to each of us to maintain our energy pathways…and control what we are able to use, to give, to share and to receive. If you are blocked, and you don’t take care of yourself, you may be subject to an unexpected cosmic cleansing. The Mighty, Mighty Freak Out is a powerful lesson that clarifies our priorities and clears energy pathways by purging the excess buildup. But I wouldn't recommend it before you've had your morning coffee!
Oh the Humanity! with Loren Morris
This week I would like to make you aware of a problem that is going on in Africa. When I first learned of this problem I didn't sleep for a week.
It's horrifying.
Children in Africa are being accused of witchcraft. First, their families turn against them, abusing them, accusing them of being witches. Then, they are taken to a local church or a healer where they are subjected to more abuse in the form of an exorcism. Some of them are killed for this, but most are kicked out of their homes. They end up living on the streets, begging for food and being ridiculed further by neighbors and former family friends. They are vulnerable to more abuse, physical and sexual. They are now in danger.
I blame Christian missionaries for this. This is caused by a combination of Pentecostal and Charismatic fervor and the old beliefs of African witchcraft.
Are these children teenagers? Some of them are.
But, children as young as 2 are accused.
The following is a statement by Helen Ukpabio, from her book Unveiling The Mysteries of Witchcraft:
“if a child under the age of 2 screams in the night, cries and is always feverish with deteriorating health, he or she is a servant of Satan.”
People like Helen Ukpabio are causing these beliefs to grow further. She is a labeled "witch hunter" that travels and spreads these lies with no thought of innocent children being killed or left homeless. She is an evil woman that needs to be stopped.
If I were a rich woman, this would be my life purpose. I would be there fighting this. I would make a home for these children to go to. As it is, I can only raise awareness. So, that is what I am doing in this week's Stew. I had NO idea about this. I just happened to stumble across it one day while on Youtube.
The following is information provided by UNICEF:
This is the video that I stumbled across on Youtube, that first made me aware of the severity of this problem. It was an expose by ABC nightline:
Part 1
Part 2
Information on Helen Ukpabio, including a clip taken from her film End Of The Wicked:
This Week in Astrology
(All times EDT)Sunday, July 14: Moon void of course until 3:40 am; moves into Libra
Monday, July 15:First Quarter Moon 11:18 pm
Moon goes void at 11:18 pm
Tuesday, July 16: Moon void ends at 10:24 am; moves into Scorpio
Great day to do business after the void ends.
Wednesday, July 17: Great day to do business- all day
Thursday, July 18: Moon void of course from 7:21 am until 1:54 pm; moves into Sagittarius
Friday, July 19:Waxing Gibbous Moon 9:44 am
Saturday, July 20: Moon void of course from 12:13 pm -2:38 pm; moves into Capricorn
Mercury stations Direct at 2:22 pm (!!!!!)
Weekly Horoscope from Darkstar Astrology
This Week's Tarot: The Sun
Key words: Fun, warmth, success, positive thinking and action, vitality |
| Tarot de St. Croix |
"A time of contentment and freedom from restraints. Creative inspiration. Achievement, success, and warmth. Light and love in personal or business matters. Happiness and faithfulness in a relationship."~Facade
As Mercury Rx quickly loses it's grip this week, we find ourselves in a much more optimistic frame of mind. The Sun represents success, abundance, radiance, happiness and joy. This is the dawn after the darkest night, and it just gets better from here. We have a deep sense of self-confidence and a feeling that "life is good".
Luck, self-esteem, enthusiasm, connection to the Mystery, success.. these are all part of the Sun's gifts to us this week. It's a "say yes! to life" kind of week, so just enjoy!
"This is a time when you will feel enlightened. You can finally see the path ahead of you and through the hardship you have endured, you have attained a new level of insight and understanding. You may have even had a personal or intellectual breakthrough where you have finally unlocked the key to your fundamental ‘being’. ~Biddy Tarot
If you like the Tarot picture, you should visit Lisa St. Croix's blog site and follow her as she is creating this deck. The artwork is stunning!
This Week's Totem: Dragon
 |
Dragon is the essence of primordial power, and ruler of all of the elements. Dragon legends can be found in nearly every indigenous culture on the planet. Dragon's message is of strength, fortitude and courage, not just in times of adversity, but in the hum-drum and mundane parts of our lives. Dragon awakens our connection to the magics of the world, and helps us tap into our psychic nature.
Dragon is a peaceful warrior. He teaches us to let negativity flow around us, but not allow it to interrupt our internal peace. To awaken the dragon means he has been called upon to defend or protect with honor and truth. If you are struggling, Dragon can teach you how to live this way.
Dragon can go to those places within us that no one else can penetrate, bringing healing, and courage. He teaches us to find our voice and sing our own song of personal power.
The Shameless Plug:
Grab your Inner Goddess Revolution Guide from:
That's it for this week's Stew. Mull. Digest. Enjoy!
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