Sabbats by Edain McCoy

So I work at a large-chain bookstore part-time and I'm able to check books out like at the library. I checked out Sabbats by Edain McCoy one day. I'm not a huge McCoy fan, but I liked what I saw as far as recipes and craft ideas in the book. My gods! I loved the book and had to buy it! It has so much good history and so many recipes and crafts in it. I checked quite a bit of the history online from different sources and most of it seems pretty accurate. There are rituals and guided meditations inside, as well, though I'm not much into those. I create my own rituals, instead....
Anyway, I really recommend this book if you're looking for good ideas for celebrating the sabbats each year.

Blessings to all.

Zahra

Beltane

Dear me, so much for not disappearing in the blog-world! So sorry....
So May 1st was Beltane, as I'm sure all of you know. Because it was also the birthday of one of my siblings, and because the grass is green (ahh, lovely), I wanted to have a special celebration.
I took my time with all that I did, and yet, I accomplished so much and felt so wonderful....
I went and spoke with one of my employers about my summer job-to-be. I went to the gas station for a few more things for the celebration. I crocheted (Oh yes, and I learned to crochet the week before from a book) some ribbon together in a circle and took it to the park. Then I stuck grasses and dandelions and twigs in it to make a small door wreath. I also found a lovely blackbird's feather and a pinecone, which I attached. I baked a lemon cake with lemon cream cheese frosting. I started a bonfire in our firepit. I did the dishes, cleaned the bathroom and my bedroom, all the while playing with the puppy.
Ohh, it was such a beautiful day! So peaceful! It was a little chilly outside, but it didn't affect me any.
My brother got home from work and we had hotdogs over the fire, salad, chips and salsa, cake. We played with the puppy more.
I went to bed peaceful. Thank the gods and goddesses for the most perfect Beltane I've ever experienced. Thank the faeries and wandering spirits for their most sweet attitude toward me and mine.

I hope you all had a lovely Beltane, as well. Hugs to the world!

Marriage

Kahlil Gibran (I’ll probably post something of Gibran’s with each opinion. It just … fits.):

“THEN Almitra spoke again and said, And what of Marriage, master?
And he answered saying:
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.”

Basically, I think that marriage (with signed legal documents and everything) is pure silliness. I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t celebrate your love for one another; don't get me wrong. If I was with someone, I would probably have a ‘wedding’ or celebration for each season that we were together. Autumn would have changing leaves and lots of autumn colours and pumpkin pies and such, Winter would have sleigh rides and white snowy outfits, etc.
But making it a bound contract to stay with someone makes no sense to me. Love is constant, but compatibility never could be. You may love someone your entire life, yet be unable to handle living with them or being together constantly. It is the same with relationships. You can easily love someone, be with someone, but you can’t own them. You can’t make them be with you and with no one else. That is just ridiculous.
If you want to know more about how I feel with relationships and such, read Being In Love by Osho. That is all.

Opinions on Love

Kahlil Gibran, “THEN said Almitra, Speak to us of Love.
And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them. And with a great voice he said:
When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you, believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God’s sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life’s heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love’s threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say, “God is in my heart,” but rather, “I am in the heart of God.”
And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.”

Our family values, “Love yourself so you can love others. Love everything. Love everyone. Love everything in everyone. Love Love, Love Hate.”

People ask, What is Love? And it can’t be defined. It is inside you, it is not outside you. Love isn’t in actions or words, Love is only within you. You feel it at certain times, you don’t at others. There is nothing you can say or do to change that. Love is Love.

Going Insane

Last Sunday, I was at Witch-N-Bitch in town and I was explaining why I wanted to become insane on my birthday. I want to drop all of society and every silly, frivolous inhibition I have. I figure that the day I turn 18 will be a very nice day to finally do that because I'll be dropping everything from my parents and childhood.
Uncle Ac brought to the conversation a point that is marvelous and makes me even more excited to go insane: If I have lost all of the world's rules of how things supposedly are, I can create much easier, therefore adding more power to my spells. I'm kind of using my own words here, but I think I am transposing what he spoke pretty much correctly (if it's all screwed up, you're welcome to correct me, Ac).
Imagine. If I truly become the insane I wish to be, a table will no longer be real. A piece of popcorn is no longer real. This means that I can say, "Okay, so THIS is how I want things to be. This is now how things ARE." I can create my own universe.

New Book

I got a new book from the library and when I read the cover and looked at the author's picture, I didn't think I'd like it. But I had placed it on hold, unseen (bad habit of mine), so I checked it out.
The book is called Garden Witch's Herbal by Ellen Dugan.
When I got home, I looked through it and read some things. The more I read, the more I liked. I guess it is true that you can't read a book by its cover.
Although the publisher is Llewellyn (ew), and the author spells magic with a 'k', her writing is marvelous. She has practiced magic for more than 25 years, as well as having received her Master Gardener status through the University of Missouri. So she really seems to know what she is talking about. There is a lot of information in the book and the drawings are beautiful.
Definitely a book I want to own.

Something To Do With Water....

I mentioned in Samhain Part III that Ac and Carmin gifted us with some essential oil - Hecate Trivia. I didn't know what it was used for, so I asked Carmin on Facebook.

Answer:
Divination, ritual, appeals specifically to Hecate for guidance, dream and astral work.

Okay, that works. I was excited to use it. Last night was Occult Science class at the bookstore in town and we were talking about the oil. Mom told us all that she rubbed some on her hands because it smelled good and a lot of weird stuff happened to her all day.
We got home and I was really tired, in a funky state of mind. When I went to bed, I decided not to try using the oil, just yet. But a few minutes later, I changed my mind and put a couple drops on my pillow; went to sleep. I had really weird dreams, although that's not weird at all. I always get those. Early in the morning, I woke up to either Sam or Mom in the kitchen. I thought, "There's something to do with water. Water." I chewed on that word as whoever was in the kitchen turned on the faucet. I went back to sleep, content with the little premonition, had more weird dreams and that was that. For now. I'm going to expirement with this oil. This is fun!

Samhain Part III

So it was about 6:30pm. Lovely Carmin was working until 8pm, so I thought I’d bring her some orange-cinnamon rolls, oatmeal chocolate-chip cookies, candy, things like that. But first, I’d call, in case she wasn’t in the mood for visiting. I could just imagine working and someone walks a mile or so to visit me and so I can’t just turn them away, but I do NOT want to be social. So I called and she said that she, Uncle Ac and one of their friends was going to come over after Ac got off work at 9pm. Of course I was all excited! My first Samhain Stop-By visitors! (I had to finish singing along to that song. I can’t sing and type at the same time. Haha … that would be an INTERESTING blogpost to upload. It would make no sense.) Sam and Mama and I hung out and joked around and then Mama got ready for work and left at about 8:20pm. She works the night shift. You probably don’t need to know all these little details….

I started a fresh pot of coffee and put a new pan of orange-cinnamon rolls in the oven. Sam started a fire in our firepit outside and we enjoyed the warmth.



Ac, Carmin and their friend Dan arrived and we exchanged hugs. Ac tried to pop my back when he hugged me, but I had been relaxed all day, as well as having done tai chi in the morning, so it didn’t work real well, haha.
Ac and Carmin presented us with beautiful gifts from their shop: An orange skull candle, 4 pink candles, incense and Hecate Trivia oil. The aroma when I open the box is one of the best things in the multiverse!

So we gave Ac, Carmin and Dan a tour of our house. Ac ‘fixed’ my sewing machine, meaning that I had the bobbin on backward. Whoops! In our hallway/art gallery, Carmin was looking at the pictures and I told her the story of the fly and the spider. You see, we have this piece of art that Sammy and I did together (oil pastel) of a jumping spider leaping at a fly. We messed up on one spot and trying to fix it made it worse. But we decided that the fly has a force-field and the spider doesn’t know about it. But he’ll find out about it, oh yes he will, when he runs into it! Anyway, I learned from Carmin which eraser will be able to fix mistakes like that. We agreed, though, that the fly’s force-field was too cool to fix.

Then we sat around the fire, enjoying roasted marshmallows and hotdogs, cinnamon rolls, coffee and family. We had some wonderful conversations and some really nice silences. Our dog, Stick, really enjoyed the company, of course.




He wasn’t as hyper as he usually is, because it was past his bedtime.

Our friends left at about 1am so they could get sleep for the next day and Sammy and I went inside. We enjoyed each other’s presence for a while and conversed, although in a very short time, I couldn’t keep track of my thoughts. I was exhausted after 33 hours awake and only one hour of sleep after the first 7 hours. So we parted for sleep, which was very deep for me that night. …Morning. Yes, morning.

Blessed Be
Thanks for the photos, Sam

So I need to give a shoutout to my surrogate Uncle Azzerac, and his lovely partner, Carmin.
They own an online Premium Occult Supplies store, Lodestone & Lady's Mantle. They also hold Occult Science classes at a local bookstore and a weekly Sunday Witch 'n Bitch at a local cafe (during the cold season. Summer, there is hiking).

So I was reading their latest blogpost. And I decided to give a shoutout to John Unger, as well.
Anyone who reads this, please pass this on or buy one of his beautiful pieces of work to help him out in his case.

Hugs