Bright Blessings Film Lovers! This month, I am reviewing Fullmetal Alchemist, a Japanese live action film based on the Manga books, of the same title, written by Hiromu Arakawa. Here is the trailer for this film. The film is all about magic, and science, breaking the rules, and the consequences of doing so. The film follows the lives of brothers Ed and Al, beginning when they were small, and learning Alchemy on their own. Their mother dies unexpectedly, and they try to bring their mom back to life using the little skills they have learned. This was forbidden, and both boys knew this. It could not end well, but these…

  May the Devil Take You       Bright Blessings, Movie lovers. I had the pleasure of viewing one of the scariest horror’s I’ve seen since the original Exorcist. This is an Indonesian film called “May the Devil Take You.” If you scare easily, run like mad, and never watch this. If you are interested, take a look at the trailer.     If you love a good scare, and want to sleep with all the lights on- IF you can sleep…you MUST see this. The film begins showing what appears to be an encounter with a cunning woman, but turns out to be a man named Lesmana selling…

Celebrating The Old Ways In New Times for December 2018 Bright Blessings! Some of us count the start of Winter with Samhain, and we were lucky that we had a warm beginning of Winter here in Central Ohio. One night in Early November though, surrounded by the glory of fall colors in the leaves of the many trees I live amongst, I was out walking the dog, and I felt a chill, and the silence that had fallen upon the body of Mother Earth told me the Cailleach was here. My husband swears up and down Winter is not here until Solstice time, but I feel her moving across the…

Celebrating the Old Ways In New Times November 2018 Bright Blessings, It’s close to the end of the fall season here in Central Ohio, and I have just a tiny bit more garden cleanup to do. I planted the mums and spring bulbs I wanted to, and will probably leave the wood asters to overwinter under our elm tree instead of cutting them back. The days are shorter already, and we are about to Fall Back, which means it will get dark earlier very soon. It’s already as low as 29 degrees in the night and early mornings before the sun rises, and my arthritis is already ticked off by…

Just in time for Halloween and the love of all thinks spooky, Netflix released a dazzling supernatural horror from Spain called Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil. Watch the trailer here at this link below: While the film is a very good watch, beyond that, it’s based on an old folktale, which in one form or another, has been around for thousands of years. The story is told many ways, but basically, a cunning Blacksmith is screwed over by the devil upon making a pact- and the Blacksmith figures out how to stick it to the old devil, and get out of the pact. Set in 1800’s Basque region of…

Celebrating the Old Ways in New Times October 2018 Bright Blessings, This is the end of the growing season for me due to the kinds of plants I grow, and I’ve already started fall cleanup. It’s also the time I begin planning what I will plant in fall, and I decide what I might like to consider growing come next Spring. I am busily reading bulb catalogs and selecting next years seeds. Pulling the zinnias is always heartbreaking, but we had such heavy rains earlier in the month, they had been knocked over onto the sidewalk so badly, and I had no choice. They wouldn’t have been left another week…

American Mystic I was gifted a copy of American Mystic, and I am so glad. Here is the trailer. Released in 2010, it is an intimate portrait of three non- mainstream devotees. One is Pagan, one is a Lakota Sundancer, and one is an Xtian Spiritualist. The stories of each person’s faith/path are explored from their gatherings to their personal mundane home life, and their individual personal practices. Chuck, the Sundancer, welcomes the crew into the parts of the ceremony, teaching, and explaining different things that go into it. He shows years worth of scars gotten during Sundances, and he and friends open their hearts, and sacred spaces to anybody…

Bright Blessings, film lovers! This month, I decided to review another classic film- Steel Magnolias. Some have not seen it, as it’s set in the 1980’s in Louisiana. The film is all about motherhood, the cycle of life, death, and birth, and the power of women to support one another no matter what. I have never met anybody who did not bawl like a baby while watching this film, and it is one of the finest films ever made. It’s filled with big hair, snark, shade, charm, love, and laughs. You will fall in love with the Steel Magnolias- delicate like a flower, and as strong as steel! Here is…

Celebrating the Old Ways in New Times September 2018 Autumnal Equinox Bright Blessings, It is almost the Autumnal Equinox! We are thankful the weather is cooling off. Some of us nearly suffocate when it is so hot, but it’s also sad that Summer plants are winding down. I got a head start and threw some mums in pots, and am eyeing more at garden aisles at local shops. I put my radishes in the soil five days ago, and they have already emerged tall and strong! Next, garden cleanup begins! I have mint, zinnias, black eyed susans, echinacea, and a huge tomato plant that will need cleaned up by winter,…

Review of Insidious 3 Bright Blessings! I could not resist reviewing another horror flick! I can’t get enough of them! I have seen Insidious and also part 2, and was tickled pink when I saw a part 3! Here is the official trailer. I liked parts 1 and 2, but part 3 was the best, in my opinion. It is the prequel to 1, and 2, and shows what happens that starts the ball rolling for the events in the first two films. The plot is the very grief-stricken teenager, Quinn approaches psychic Elise, to contact her deceased mother. Elise has stepped aside from medium-ship work, and initially tries, but…