Costume Shopping

So Friday night was hours filled with costume shopping and a bunch of shenanigans between the four of us. LOL....the fun happenings of a deranged family, gotta love it.

Wishing everyone a Happy Pre Halloween!!!!!

My hubby and our youngest daughter Lyric.

Myself and my oldest daughter Harmony.

Me and my girls running amok in the store, lol. Good times....

Halloween Fever

Yup this household including the pets are getting anxious for Halloween/Samhain holiday!

Blessed Be my friends!!!!

Pomegranate

I found this article online and had no idea of the different folklore that accompanied the fruit. My grandmother just always told me that on Halloween to slice one in fours and put them in the 4 corners outside your home. That way the spirits who walked the earth that night who are no invited into your home can eat and keep going without stopping to haunt you. She was a very superstitious grandma but I still do as she did to this day. Here's the link but the article is below. Enjoy!!!

http://www.squidoo.com/fruit-folklore

Pomegranate

Ancient red fruit, with many seeds that symbolize fertility.

The Pomegranate was often used as a herbal remedy to lengthen life and restore vigor, these qualities often made it a symbolic link between the living and the dead.

To the Romans, the pomegranate signified marriage, and brides decked themselves in pomegranate wreaths.

Pomegranate seeds appear in the famous Greek myth of Demeter, goddess of the harvest, and her daughter, Persephone...

"One day, Persephone was picking flowers in a field, when Hades, the King of the Underworld, seized her and carried her to his dark underworld to be his wife. Grief-stricken, her mother, Demeter, killed every living plant on earth and refused to let new crops grow. To prevent man-kind from starving, Zeus ordered Hades to release Persephone. However, before she was released, Hades tricked her into eating seven pomegranate seeds, "The Fruit of the Underworld", this condemned her to life in the underworld for four months out of every year. For those months (winter), the world is plunged into a dark cold emptiness, but when Persephone returns to her mother each year, the earth again begets flowers, fruit, and grains."

"A single fruit grew on that tree, a bright pomegranate fruit. Persephone stood up in the chariot and plucked the fruit from the tree. Then did "he" prevail upon her to divide the fruit, and, having divided it, Persephone ate seven of the pomegranate seeds." - The Golden Fleece by Padraic Colum (1881-1972)




In Greek myth, Orion's wife was very beautiful, even rivaling the beauty of Zeus's wife, Hera. For her daring to compete with Hera, her children were killed and she was persuaded to believe herself the culprit. In agony, she threw herself from a cliff. The location of her blood was where the first pomegranate tree grew.

In the modern-day traditions of many Greeks, it is customary to adorn the holiday table with pomegranates. The Greeks consider the pomegranate to be a symbol of abundance; a fruit that spills over in plenitude and good luck. They are set out in honor of the fertile land and its bounty. Pomegranates also make an appearance during weddings, funerals, and New Year celebrations.

Pomegranates in China are associated with fertility. One of these fruits, shown half-opened, is often a wedding gift, it means a hundred seeds, or more completely, a hundred sons. The word for seed and sons in Chinese is "zi", it is also the word for "sons."

Religious Symbolism
To the early Jews, pomegranate seeds were an affirmation of their faith. Each pomegranate was believed to contain exactly 613 seeds, a number that corresponds with the number of commandments in the Torah. This belief was once so strong that the Old Testament calls for the pomegranate's image to be woven into priestly robes.

The pomegranate may also be the original fruit from the Garden of Eden, making it the representation of all that is forbidden. One taste of its ripe seeds and all knowledge of death, sex, and sin are suddenly clear. However, this didn't stop early Christians from idolizing the fruit.

Christian art, often depicts the Virgin Mary with a pomegranate, either in her hand, or nearby. This was to symbolized the Virgin Mary's power over life and death, as well as the seed that bore the Son of God.

Ancient Arab women used pomegranate seeds to predict their own fertility. The pomegranate was dropped on the ground, in the center of a circle. When it broke open, the number of seeds that landed outside the circle, was the number of children she would have.

Pomegranates are a Chinese Sign for Fertility

Makes a Great Wedding Gift!

Albuquerque Pagan Pride Day!!

September 30th was our annual Pagan Pride Day. I went late and left early cause I had a sick kiddo at home and didn't want to leave her alone that long with grandma, especially since she was starting to feel under the weather as well. But we had a great time and it has gotten so huge. I remember the very first one. It took up one corner of the park. No stage, kids corner, altar set up in the middle and maybe like 6-7 vendors. Now there were two stages one at each end of the park, took up the entire space of the park, nurses station, bathrooms, kids corner like always, petting zoo, and like 20 vendors. And food too!!!!! It's so neat to see how it's grown in the last 5 years. Love and Light to all my tree loving friends out there.......................

Me and my girls at PPD!

One of the many belly dancers with her partner. The big snake, lol!!!!

This guy was just chilling with his owl in the middle of everything.

Chang O

So I recently purchased a new Goddess Oracle Deck by Kris Waldherr and in the deck of 80 cards I probably know 15-20 of the Goddess'. So I decided to learn as I pull from them. So here we go...........


SEPTEMBER
September's Goddess is Chang O "Queen of the Moon"

Around the world, the moon is associated with numerous objects. The fanciful believe it is made of cheese because of its pocked surface. Others claim to see the face of a man in the moon. In China, the moon is associated with a celestial white rabbit, who is said to reside there with the goddess Chang O in a palace built of fragrant cinnamon wood.

Every September (odd I pulled her for this month) when the full moon is at its most brilliant, the Chinese honor Chang O with a moon festival. This celebration also celebrates women and features family reunions. Besides gathering to admire the moon's luminescent brilliance, people bake special round treats called moon cakes, which are filled with delicious red bean paste. As people eat them, they are reminded of Chang O, queen of the moon.

WOMEN, FAMILY, CYCLES-Celebrate your femininity with pride

 You can always find out more with online searching here's a link I enjoyed reading about Chang O.

The moon festival in China

Hope you all enjoyed this. Let's see who I study up on in October. Love and Light my friends.

Its coming up soon.

Yikes just 3 more days and this Virgo turns 39!!!! My last year in my thirties then a few more to pass and I'm headed to my crone stage. Hope this year is a good one for me.

Love and Light my friend......

Mel

Blue Moon

My plans for tomorrows Blue Moon Esbat. Hope you enjoy the video.
Love and Light.........

Yes I'm a HOT WITCH!!!

LOL, yep cause it's gotten to 107 degrees where I live.
Ugh so strange I was born and raised in the desert and I've never liked the heat. I can see a big change in our Mother Gaia as it has never been this hot for so many days straight and gotten there so fast. Our winters here are colder. No snow but last year we got a lot of freezes and I have never seen that before.
Even at 8pm it's still very hot. My honey works nights and gets home around 4:30am and we have to water then or at 9pm. Either way we are doing it in the dark.
4th of July is coming up and that is my mothers birthday and we are trying to think how to pull off her being comfortable and cool while having a bbq. Sheesh I just dont know.
Well whatever your plans are I wish everyone a fun and safe 4th please watch your fireworks/embers cause our mother earth cannot afford to have more fires going on then she already does. And lets send some good energy out there to help all who have been affected by these forest fires.
Love and Light.......

HAPPY DADS DAY!!!

First to my man witch, my love. Thank you for opening your heart and loving my girls like they were your own. We all love you so very much. xoxoxoxoxoxoxo.............................

And to my mom. If it wasn't for her love and strength I wouldn't be the woman that I am today and I'm proud of how I turned out thanks to my mother. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo.................

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL, LOVE AND LIGHT...................................

Catching Up....

So looking over my blog I noticed there were many events/memories that I did not blog about. So this one will be a catch up blog so if its a little long I'm sorry. I think there will be more pics than anything, lol.

First I noticed nothing was said about my Ostara. It was quiet and lovely. I made Ostara baskets for my two daughter and my mom. We colored eggs and ate a ton of candy. We left the dinner for Easter as I'm trying to accommodate my moms beliefs as well plus that is how I was raised so we honor both Pagan and Christian holidays in my home.

Below is a pic of our Ostara table.....

Next is a couple of pics of my youngest with her Ostara basket. She's funny, after she got it she said she couldn't wait for her Easter basket. I told her she got an Ostara basket and that was it. She turns and tells me "No that basket was from the Goddess, I'm waiting for the one from the bunny now." Oh boy kids........

Next was Beltane and the super moon. We had a lovely time but both of the girls did go home sick. They came down with a 24 hour flu bug. But the sabbat and super moon where still filled with magic. Below is a picture of my personal altar at home and the Maypole at the Beltane celebration.

Super moon pictures. Sorry camera cell phones don't do it justice at all but I'm happy I got a few pics of it.

Oh yeah and back tracking even further to Earth Day. We all went to IHOP for an extra early breakfast and we all ordered the Lorax breakfast and planted our seeds they gave us that day. Now after all these years I can finally say I ate green eggs and ham. Yay!!

That's it folks. I think I'm all caught up for now, lol. Thanks for tuning in. Blessed Be!

This weekend...

I found this article and now so excited for this weekend. Here in my neck of the woods our Beltane celebration will be held this weekend at the Tijeras Mountains in New Mexico. So I'm so excited to be able to dance around the bale fire with my family, friends and loved ones then to have this going on at the same time. Hooray!!!! I'm so excited I cant wait.

Love and Light.........

Biggest ‘Supermoon’ Phenomenon on May 5, 2012

‘Supermoon’ is a situation when the moon is slightly (about 50.000 km) closer to Earth in its orbit than on average, at least from our perspective on Earth. On May 5, the moon will appear about 14% larger and 30% brighter.

The ‘Supermoon’ could cause tides to rise around the world as the moon’s close ‘fly past’ exerts 42% more tidal force. But this is nothing to worry about, according to America’s NOAA space-weather predicting agency. In most places, lunar gravity at perigee pulls tide waters only a few centimeters (an inch or so) higher than usual.

Not all ‘Supermoons’ are the same powerful, neither by the intensity nor by the duration of their effect. It has caused many discussions in scientific circles about the full moon on May 5, 2012 which is going to be one of the most powerful in years.

‘Supermoon’ is often associated with massive natural disasters, as well as social uprisings,has made Nasa create a video that explains what is going to happen on 5 and 6 May, 2012.

The best time to look is when the Moon is near the horizon. That is when illusion mixes with reality to produce a truly stunning view.

Lyrid Meteor Shower 2012: Shooting Stars After Midnight, and New Moon Helps Visibility - ABC News

I will be out, chilling and hoping I get a good view of this. Hooray!!!!!
Love and Light


Lyrid Meteor Shower 2012: Shooting Stars After Midnight, and New Moon Helps Visibility - ABC News