Pets and hot weather For many of us this is our favorite time of year and a chance to have fun outdoors with our pets. The Humane Societies want Pet owners to enjoy this time while being mindful of the dangers that hot weather can pose for our Furbabies. Dogs primarily control their body heat thru panting and drinking cool water. In extreme heat, it can be difficult for pets to cool off and overheating is a serious danger. On very hot days, pet owners should always be aware of their pet’s condition. Immediately stop strenuous exercise if pets start excessively panting, drooling or appear weak. You should take these…

Be Careful What You Don’t Wish For We have all heard the saying “Be careful what you wish for” and it is actually good advice. Sometimes we think we know what we want, but we do not understand the real ramifications of our wishes. For example, someone may wish to win the lottery, only to win the lottery and end up hating what their life becomes. Once someone is famous and well off they often wish they were normal again instead of constantly being asked for money or being blackmailed. Our wishes are not always in our own best interest. As witches we do not have this problem too often.…

Reborn Baby Dolls I always thought the Reborn baby dolls brought out the maternal instinct in a woman, but the other day I listened to a couple of women talking and began to wonder. “Wash the baby with an alcohol swab until she is nice and clean then hold her with a steady hand as you trace the veins so they stand out nice and blue. Once you’re done, lay the baby carefully on a towel in a cake or pie pan, depending on size of infant and place them on the center rack in the oven. I like to bake my babies at 250 degrees for about 10 minutes.”…

Mid-Summer Spiritual Purification with Vesta “Daughter of Saturn, venerable dame, Who dwell’st amid great fire’s eternal flame, In thee the gods have fix’d their dwelling place, Strong stable basis of the mortal race.” Taylor’s Orphic Hymns: Hymn to Vesta What’s in a name? Vesta’s name means “torch” and was sometimes called the “Shining One” or the “The One of Light” and conversely some called her the “Lady of the Night”.  She was the “Keeper of the Hearth”, the “Keeper of the Flame”, the “Lady of the Loving Light”, the “Goddess of Fire and Purity” and the “Guardian of the Hearth and Home”.  Even though she was the “The Virgin Goddess…

Lesson Two Beginning of the Burning Times Part one. We will start looking at the dark times of Wicca because there is so such to take in, we will run this over two, may three  lessons as there much to burning times that we must discuss  within the course. The Beginnings of the Burning Times The burning times were the beginnings of the organised church fight to banish the beliefs of the people whom still held on to their pagan/wiccan beliefs in spited of the Christian Church teachings. We must look at the black ground to beginnings of these times and the causes. One of these factors was the eroding…

What Parents Can Learn From Angelina Jolie I stumbled across this article recently and I must admit that I was very encouraged by the comments Angelina Jolie made about her daughter Shiloh’s choice of clothing. Apparently Shiloh prefers to dress “like a boy” and that has media critics blasting a 4 year old and calling her a transsexual.  While it is beyond shameful to take jabs at a child in such a manner no matter who her parents are I think that Jolie handled the situation with honesty and integrity: “Children should be allowed to express themselves in whatever way they wish without anybody judging them because it is an…

Alabaster A milky white stone revered in biblical times for its purity and representation of high ideals.  This mineral facilitates sensitivity and inner responses when used in meditation.  Its softness allows these peaceful thoughts to be carried outside of the self and placed into action.  Acts on the 7th Chakra. Alexandrite Opens heart, solar plexus and especially Crown Centers.  For healing, centering, self esteem.  Rare and powerful.  Opens to higher self, disattachment, psychicness, spiritual love, joy and luck.  Excellent tissue regeneration.  Especially works on Nervous system.  2nd and 7th Chakras.

SOL: **Morning Hours All Month** For the beginning of August the Sun will be leaving the house of Cancer and travelling across the sky towards the constellation of Leo where after August 15, 2010; he will fully be in Leo for the remainder of the month. Though the stage is being set for a late summer change in planetary dominance, the Sun still rules the mornings all month long.  In August it will be different than July due to Leo’s influence.   IMO Sun worship will be even better than last month.   And using the Sun as an ingredient in your magick could be potent this month.  Things like a protection…

The rich scent of soil works its way into my nostrils. The earth fills my hands like fine cloth, smooth & heavy. I let it drift through my fingers as I marvel in its texture. This garden is mine, as is the brand new house that goes with it. In both the literal & figurative sense, I have worked hard to plant the right seeds & asked my Gods to help  them to thrive. In this season of harvest I find myself looking forward to sitting back & enjoying the fruits of my labour, to reap the rewards of what I have sewn. I would like to give thanks, but…

Pagan theology:  Are we the last hope? By nature I’m a pretty fatalistic and ruthlessly practical person.  Make a psychic prediction?  Then you’ve got to convince me you’re not a cold reader [1].  If you claim that recycling is beneficial to the environment: you’d better have done a mass and energy balance [2].  I try to look at the data, but, unfortunately when one does look at the data one can often come to some pretty depressing conclusions.  Like the state of the environment. Since we just dumped a 435,000 – 2,262,000 barrels [3] of oil into the Gulf of Mexico I thought it might be useful to consider some…