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Hungry? Then, let's dig in!
Happy Birthday this week to Kim Ingram Deister, Joe Meyer, Valerie Tirpak, Jackie Robinson, Allysha Woods, Tiffany Boggins, Anthony Jerome R. Thorn, Melissa Ruper Olivero, Kelly Tucker and Peony Firestorm! 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
Besides the upbeat sound of this country ditty, I really enjoy the bit of humor to it. No, I don't mean the puns on old school country and western artists' names at the end (though that did make me smile). I more meant the point of view of the singer, that some things are "long time gone" when really, they will come back. They come back in a slightly different form than the singer expected, but some things thought long left behind circled around again. True, there are somethings that just won't return, but its interesting every now and again to revisit things you thought you had left behind to see if, once they are dusted off and seen in a different way, are meaningful to where you are now. You never know.
Keep dancing,
Kestril
In the News
Feeling the Pagan Force in Homage to Lugh SkywalkerA raucous evocation of pagan savagery comes with youthful flaws
Kerry Katona wants a budget Pagan wedding
Arctic Witch Hunt at Gates of Hell
Out of the Broom Closet and into the Rave: 'Pop Pagans- Paganism in Pop Culture'
Paganism Part 4: literary and artistic underpinnings
Witchcraft Accusations and Free Thought in Ghana
Pagan Lore with Karen Szabo
Sunday, August 11
On this day, an Irish fertility festival known as the Puck Fair begins. The medieval-style festival, which pays homage to the mischievous sprite Robin Goodfellow, continues for three consecutive days. Oddudua, the "Mother of all Gods", is honored on this day by followers of the Santeria religion in Africa and South America.
Monday, August 12
The Egyptian Goddess Isis and her search for Osiris (her brother and consort) is commemorated on this day by the Lychnapsia (Festival of the Lights of Isis). Dried rose petals and vervain are burned in small cauldron pots or incense burners as offerings to Isis, and green candles are lit in her honor.
Tuesday, August 13
On this date, the major Pagan festival of Hecate is traditionally held at moonrise. Hecate, the mysterious goddess of darkness and protectress of all Witches, is a personification of the Moon and the dark side of the female principle.
Wednesday, August 14
Every year on this date, a "burryman" (a man wearing a costume of thistle burrs, and representing an ancient fertility god) walks through the streets in many of the fishing villages along the coast of Scotland, collecting donations from the villagers. The origin of the burryman remains a mystery.
Thursday, August 15
This date is the Festival of Vesta. The ancient Roman Goddess of the hearth was honored annually on this date in ancient times. Many modern Witches light six red candles and cast herbs into hearth fires on this day to honor Vesta and to receive her blessings for family and home.
Friday, August 16
This date is Salem Heritage Day in Massachusetts. On this date in the year 1987, the first Harmonic Convergence as observed worldwide during the Grand Trine (the alignment of all nine planets in our solar system). The event, which lasted for two consecutive days, was believed to be the beginning of five years of peace and spiritual purification. Thousands of New Age enthusiasts gathered at various sacred sites to dance, chant, meditate, and tune into the positive energies of the Earth and the universe.
Saturday, August 17
Festival of Diana. Every year on this date, the Goddess of chastity, hunting, and the moon was honored by the ancient Romans. This is a special day of feasting, mirth, and magick-making for many Dianic Wiccans, since Diana is the most sacred Goddess of their tradition. On this date in the year 1950, Oglala Sioux mystic and medicine man Nicholas Black Elk died in Manderson, South Dakota. He was known for his great powers of prophecy and healing, and was an adherent of the Ghost Dance, a short-lived Native American religious movement which ended in a tragic massacre at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in 1890.
Quite a variety of celebrations and special days, yes? I hope you enjoyed the read, and I'll see you next week with more Pagan lore!
Karen
Sparkle and Shine with Sosanna
Learning a Valuable LessonI like to think of myself as a pretty open book. I try to be completely honest and share my thoughts with everyone. Sometimes I may share too much. I've learned in my life that I shouldn't say things about people that I wouldn't say directly to them. This philosophy has kept me out of trouble for the most part. I say for the most part.
I seem to spend a lot of time looking over my shoulder. There are family members and friends that usually can’t handle the truth. I've been very careful to try to deliver information in such a way that will not only reveal the truth but also arrive to the receiver in a pleasant manner. For example, you can tell your Grandma you hate her stuffing, or you can say you prefer another stuffing. I believe delivery is extremely important. There are times when that ease in delivery is not possible.
Being blunt is something that I *try* really hard not to do. Online, it can be difficult to understand a person’s tone. On one hand you can say, you suck and the person laughs with you, on the other you say you suck and next thing you know, you’re blocked.
Sometimes people are mean. That’s a fact. Look around our world. With people like WBC, it is easy to see that there are just mean people out there who want to do nothing more than create issues. It is really hard to deal with these types of people. Dealing with mean people is just as difficult as dealing with passive aggression.
I wanted to share a few things I've learned over my years and years online.
1.You can’t assume you know the tone of the sender.
2.You can’t control what other think of you.
3.You can’t make someone listen to you.
4.If you don’t want someone to see it, don’t share it.
5.Try not to take it personally, sometimes it really isn't about you.
Remember, sometimes your feelings will be hurt. For people like me sometimes wearing my feelings on my sleeve gets me in trouble. Sometimes I forget that everyone isn't like me. Not everyone answers an email the second it arrives. Not everyone will do something right now instead of putting things off tomorrow. Even though I’ll send a direct message when there’s an issue, not everyone else will. I have to learn that I cannot control what other people feel about me. But most importantly, I cannot make everyone like me. Sometimes, they just don’t. I need to pick up my toys and move on.
Namaste & Blessed Be
Sosanna
)O(
Uncharted Seas with Cap'n Dave
When Work...Isn't
While it may not always be fun and games aboard a ship, that doesn't mean that work has to be bothersome, degrading, annoying, tiring, or unsatisfying…even if it’s less than glamorous.
Yes, there’s polishing the brightwork, checking the bilges, sanding the oxidation off the wood (at least until we get it all done, then there’s staining and varnishing…until a year or two from now when we have to do it all over again), checking the dock lines, tightening the mainsheet, securing the halyards, polishing and re-greasing the winch drums, as well as, of course, all of the normal “domestic” chores of washing the dishes, scrubbing out the head, cleaning the basins, re-filling the water holding tanks (if needed), taking out the garbage and the recycle…but these are all things that need to be done. If you devote negative energy into it, that doesn't change the fact that it needs doing. Rather, you have merely changed your own outlook upon it, so of course you’re not going to like it – you already set that stage yourself!
When I was in the military and was given a duty to perform, I quickly got a good reputation from my superiors as someone who got things done. Why? Because I merely said “Yes, sir” or “Aye, chief” and did it. Dwelling upon what it was, arguing about it, griping about it, complaining about it didn't get it accomplished, didn't alter time and make it go faster, didn't get it done. If anything, such attitude would make it so that you had less time to get the chore done, if it was something that needed doing in a certain length of time, leaving you rushing about and doing a poor job of it or worse…an unsafe job of it. Or if it was something that would only take a half hour to do and you hemmed and hawed until it wound up being an hour, your friends would be off-ship and enjoying themselves while you were still working…not to mention that you now would have a reputation as a whiner, a crybaby, someone with a bad attitude…and when promotion time came around…yeah.
It needs doing. It may be less than glamorous, it may only be busy work, but it needs doing. Aboard my ship, it needs doing…period. It’s not just busy work. It’s something that needs to be done to ensure that the boat sails smoothly, swiftly, and above all safely.
So why not devote that energy to the positive application?
I am taking this winch apart, cleaning it, polishing it, de-greasing and then re-greasing it to make certain that it functions when we need it to, to not fail when we are using it, to work easily when we’re hauling on it, to hoist that storm jib when we’re heeled over in 30 knots of wind…
This is the energy that’s needed. 30 minutes spent with a wire brush, some 150 grit sandpaper, some polishing compound and a towel, then with winch grease all over your hands can save several hours and hundreds of dollars limping back to port with a broken mast, not to mention a potential life saved (if you've never seen a dismasting, let’s just say that even the controlled ones for testing/demonstration purposes can get rather crazy).
This energy, devoted toward a positive goal, can become a ritual, a spell, a meditation. Your energies are being directed into that piece of equipment, that halyard, that line, that anchor, that deck, that hull. Why make it work when it can be…magick?
Ashé!
Sunshine's Meanderings with Kathleen Lane
Furious!I made the mistake of watching the news and am on a rampage today. The Conservatives in this country are like a child who is "acting out" and it appears that the only way to stop the behavior is to let some of them do a "time out" in the form of 5-10 years for violating the constitution over and over.
I suppose that we Liberals are somewhat to blame for their behavior in that we have let them get away with it. One of their fundamental beliefs was shaken to the core. The ingrained idea that the American President was supposed to be a white, older man was so embedded in their minds that they are like children who are throwing temper tantrums and refusing to play when a new child comes into the house.
If we had refused to tolerate this kind of behavior right from the start it is possible that they would have seen the error of their actions. I watch the ultra-conservative states pass bill after bill that are in direct conflict with the rights granted to us as Americans and wonder just how long we are going to let them get away with it.
I know that my fury with the actions of some of these people is not going to stop or even slow them down, but I just wonder what would happen if even one well known and influential Conservative got taken down and sent to "time out" if it would wake some of the rest of them wake up.
Mid-Air Moxie with Adelina Soto Thomas
Stalking ShadowsShadows define us. They create boundaries that help us understand our place in this world and the next. In psychological terms, the Shadow is the entirety of the unconscious aspects of the self; often deemed as positive (light) and/or negative (dark). Spiritual or paranormal ‘Shadows’ are the souls, energies or apparitions of spirits that linger or travel between the worlds-both separate and part of time itself. We've often heard of them through myths, folklore, or just good old fashioned ghost stories.
As the Wheel of the Year turns and the veils between the worlds become thinner, it becomes easier for some people to notice these Shadows in their peripheral vision. Many wonder if they are going crazy or dismiss the Shadows as ‘tricks of the light’. I might have wondered the same thing if I hadn't been seeing these Shadows most of my life. The small town I grew up in had 4 cemeteries. There wasn't a direction out of town you could go that didn't pass by one of them. They were our backyards, our short cuts, our classrooms and our playgrounds. The headstones were markers not just for the resting place of the dead, but for all of us kids who could identify each stone as easily as we could our living neighbors.
As children, we didn't mind the Shadows we would observe around certain areas of the cemetery. Some stones almost seemed hazier than others because of the constant presence of the Shadow that lingered nearby. Shadows were most noticeable near freshly turned earth that covered a recently interred departed. We weren't afraid of the Shadows there for it seemed as natural as the grass that covered the graves. When I asked my mother once why people told me I shouldn't go into the cemeteries, my mom told me, “Lina, the Dead can’t hurt you. It’s the live people you need to worry about.” My mom told me that I had no reason to be afraid, but to show proper respect when I was in a cemetery. I had always done that so I had no worries.
(Read the rest of this post at MidStride Moxie)
Notes from the Circle with Alan Heartsong
Magic and Music (Part 2)Our last blog post on this subject was pretty general, and covered the overall topic rather well so this time we’re going into a specific example.
In a group I used to work with not long ago, in the beginning stage of our forming a group mind I awoke with the following lyrics pulsing in my brain:
I open myself to you, in Perfect Trust and Love
I open myself to you, so that We are One. (read the rest of this post at Heartsong's Circle)
The Spice with La'Trice Lott
One of my favorite things to make when I’m short on time is a frittata. It’s such a versatile one dish, meal. You can eat it for breakfast lunch or dinner. This recipe call for prosciutto and scallions, but you can mix and match the meat, herbs, and spices to fit your preferences.
Crispy Prosciutto and Scallion Frittata
Ingredients:
•1 tablespoon olive oil
•6 scallions (white and light green parts) thinly sliced
•4 oz prosciutto, torn into bite sized pieces
•8 large eggs
•3 tablespoons of whole milk
•½ cup grated Parmesan
•½ teaspoon black pepper
Directions:
•Pre-heat oven to 350◦F.
•Heat 1tablespoon of the oil in a large, overproof, nonstick skillet over medium heat.
•Add the scallions and cook, stirring, for 1 ½ minutes.
•Add the prosciutto and cook stirring occasionally, until slightly crispy.
•In a medium bowl whisk together eggs, milk, Parmesan and pepper
•Add scallions and prosciutto to bowl
•Pour mixture into skillet and stir gently to distribute ingredients
•Bake until edges are browned and puffed, about 15-20 minutes.
(knife inserted should come out clean)
•2 bunches of arugula
•2 tablespoons olive oil
•¼ teaspoon kosher salt
•4 ounces crumbles goat cheese.
Divide arugula among individual plates. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and top with goat cheese.
Oh the Humanity! with Loren Morris
The Horror of Ouija Boards! Part 1
As you know from my most recent post describing my collection, I am a lover of all things Spirit/Talking/Ouija. I have been for a while. I've also created art of the Ouija. I don't find them evil. They don't make me writhe in pain from demon possession. I'm not scared by them or of them. I do get mad when people tell really stupid stories about them. Because, c'mon, that puts that person right up there with the preachers that have to tell their one and only demon possession story of the local fortune teller over and over.
I have been using the board in some form for the past 14 years (give or take) and I have only been mildly scared a couple of times, in the beginning. I'm not going to say that I haven't because I would be lying. I attribute it to nervousness of using a (gasp) OUIJA. I started out using The Psychic Circle board., then I graduated over to a Ouija. Such horror stories surrounded this board, that I was scared the first couple of times. And I was much younger. And I grew up in East Tennessee. Get the picture?
As I used the Ouija more, I realized that if I used it the same way as my Psychic Circle and treated it with respect, then I understood it was not a portal for the demonic hoard to take over the world.
So, I got to thinking about what causes these beliefs surrounding these Talking Boards? Why are people so scared? What makes them all have a horror story from someone that they know, that once (and only once), used the board? (read the rest of the post at Saga's Cottage)
This Week in Astrology
August 11: All's Quiet on the Astro-FrontAugust 12: Moon Void of Course 9:00am-4:17pm, then enters Scorpio
Good day for business after 4:17pm
August 13: Good day for business, All Day
August 14: First Quarter Moon, 6:56am
Good day for business until 7:26pm
Moon Void of Course 7:26pm until 9:04pm, then enters Sagittarius
August 15: All's Quiet on the Astro-Front
August 16: 11:36am Venus enters Libra
Good day for business from 11:36am until 1:31pm
Moon Void of Course 1:31pm-11:25pm, then enters Capricorn
August 17: Waxing Gibbous Moon 3:52pm
Weekly Horoscopes from DarkStar Astrology
Weekly Tarot: Queen of Cups
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| Vanessa Tarot Deck |
"The essence of water, such as a deep and placid lake: Spirituality, maturity, and grace. A natural counselor and healer, One whose relaxed presence seems to embody deep love and spirituality. A tranquil poet who reflects the nature of the observer. The embrace of all things dreamlike and receptive, such as perfect and unconditional love." ~facade
The Queen of Cups is the ultimate compassionate counselor. She is like a mirror, reflecting the hidden depths of others. She reveals the mysteries we don't often want to see. She is highly intuitive, psychic and dreamy.. she thinks with her heart more than her head. She symbolizes that which is made possible by creativity and imagination. She is highly imaginative, artistically gifted, affectionate and romantic.
This week, The Queen of Cups encourages you to use your heart and explore your emotions on a subject.Be compassionate with yourself and others. Pursue your creative passions as a form of self-expression.
Weekly Totem: Whale
"Whale is very much like a swimming library. Whale carries the history of Mother
Earth and is said to have been placed here by the Ancients from the Dog Star, Sirius.
Biologists say that Whale is a mammal, and very possibly lived on land millions
of years ago. In tribal legend, Whale's move into the ocean happened when the Earth
shifted and Lemuria, the Motherland, went below the waves.
All of our petroglyphs speak of the Motherland, Mu, and the disaster that brought
the red race to North American from the West, beyond the great waters. The symbols in
the pertoglyphs speak of the rivers and mountains crossed by our ancestors when they
sought solid ground as the water receded." ~Medicine Cards, Jamie Sams and David Carson
Whale is one of the most interesting totems to study. Whale teaches us about going within, finding our own song, exploring our creativity and ancestral birthrights, and sharing our gifts with the world.Countless cultures around the globe associate themes of creation, birth and rebirth with the whale.
"Those who are magnetized by whale energy will tend to be incredibly deep in sensitivity." ~ Avia Venefica
"Singing is one of our most powerful and creative acts, linking us to the underlying substance and being, and is a means by which we can enter into a relationship with our most spiritual powers and abilities. It awakens our healing energies." ~ Ted Andrews, Animal Speak
Whale's message is about finding who you really are by going within. Once you find the real you, embrace your true self and sing your own unique song. Take your time, whales don't rush. This week's message is about more than just acceptance. It is about welcoming your truth, your song, your unique abilities and qualities that are unlike anyone else's. Tap into your ancestors, find out what makes you special. Help heal the threads of the world with what only you can bring. You are a gift from the Universe to the Universe. Stand up and take your authentic place in the fabric of the web, and proudly sing your song.
The Shameless Plug
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| Kelly Dupree |
This week's Shameless Plug is going out to Whimsy Dolls by Kelly Dupree. Her work is absolutely amazing, and her dolls are just gorgeous! Each one is hand-crafted with love and skill. There are no two dolls alike!A little about Kelly...
"I have been creating art dolls for over 17 years. I love seeing my dolls begin to take shape, and eventually develop their own personalities as they near completion.Very few of them ever wind up looking the way I had them envisioned when I started.
In the past, I have always created a mixture of cloth and porcelain dolls, so making a completely cloth doll is a new and fun challenge. Painting porcelain is easy compared to painting the face of a cloth art doll. With porcelain, if you make a mistake, it can simply be wiped off and redone. With a cloth doll face, each and every brushstroke has to be perfect, or the whole face is ruined. Very challenging indeed!
I hope you love Whimsy Dolls, as much as I love making them. Each little 9 inch Whimsy Doll is hand signed, usually on their butt, and slightly weighted to help them to sit up properly. Each doll is unique and original, no two are ever exactly the same."
Here are just a few of the dolls up for adoption:
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| Reba |
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| Trinity |
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| Tabitha |
You can see more here at the Whimsy Dolls Facebook Page. Go check it out, like the page and tell Kelly that The Sunday Stew Crew says, "Hello!"
That's it for this week's stew. Mull. Digest. Enjoy!
The Sunday Stew is a free, e-publication delivered each week as a loving gift to the Pagan community. All submissions are the intellectual property of their authors, and opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the blog owner.
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