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The Halloweenification of Black Cats
As the proud kitty mama of my own feline void, we are going to discuss the associations that black cats have with witches and more especially, Samhain. Black cats are most often associated with Halloween, Samhain or witchcraft. In most Western cultures, black cats have typically been looked upon as agents of misfortune. In a lot of other cultures, black cats are seen as lucky. Bringers of prosperity and happiness. So just how did cats become so intertwined with witches? A number of Pagan deities hold the cat in high esteem. Bastet tops the list with being pictured as a being with a woman’s body and a black cat’s…
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The Transformative Power of Telling Your Story
(artwork by: Francene Hart) We are volcanoes. When we women offer our experience as our truth, all the maps change. There are new mountains. That’s what I want–to hear you erupting. You Mount St. Helenses who don’t know that power in you–I want to hear you…If we don’t tell our truth, who will? -Ursula K. Le Guin Folks often tell me they don’t know how or why I share such personal things in my writing with the wide world. Aren’t I scared of being judged? Aren’t I afraid my heart will get squashed by the insensitive people of the world if I tell my story? The honest answer to…
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Things to do with the Kids this Spring Equinox
The Spring Equinox is also called the Vernal Equinox and is when day and night are roughly equal. It’s the halfway point between the winter solstice and the summer solstice. After the Spring equinox, the light increases a little every day, although the way up to the longest day of the summer solstice. In the Northern hemisphere, the spring equinox is on Thursday the 19th and Friday the 20th March, depending on location. In the Southern hemisphere, this is the autumnal equinox. The spring equinox for the Southern hemisphere will be on Tuesday 22nd September. The Spring Equinox is a great time to get kids involved with pagan activities,…
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Celebrating the Old Ways in New Times
Celebrating the Old Ways in New Times for February 2020 Bright Blessings! I write this on January 10. We’ve not had a real winter yet in my hometown, but my garden is sad. We have decided to gear up to list this place for sale, and that means I had to start dismantling my garden. My patio garden I worked years on. All of it has to go. Friends wanted my soil, and came with tubs to fill with the black, rich loam, and then toted away all my pots, stakes, tomato cages, and even my roses. Another friend came to take the box away today. I have another box…
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Book Review – Witches and Wizards: The Real-life Stories Behind the Occult’s Greatest Legends by Lucy Cavendish
Book Review Witches and Wizards The Real-life Stories Behind the Occult’s Greatest Legends by Lucy Cavendish 178 pages I cannot begin to tell you just how much I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I read it from cover to back in one sttiing in an afternoon. I was captivated and enchanted by these stories. The book is beautiful. It is a hard bound book with a ribbon for a bookmark (so helpful, don’t you wish every book had this feature?). It is illustrated with images from Flickr, Shutterstock and Lucy Cavendish. The images help the characters come to life. The beginning chapter is devoted to Merlin, the well-known wizard…
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Book Review – The Weiser Book of Occult Detectives: 13 Stories of Supernatural Sleuthing, Edited & Introduced by Judika Illes
Book Review The Weiser Book of Occult Detectives 13 Stories of Supernatural Sleuthing Edited & Introduced by Judika Illes 320 Pages I confess, when I first heard about this book, I thought it was a book about true crime – stories in which crimes had been solved by calling in psychics and other occult professionals. But The Weiser Book of Occult Detectives: 13 Stories of Supernatural Sleuthing is a book of short stories – thirteen of the greatest detective stories ever written. Collected, edited and introduced by Judika Illes, they are an entertaining read for any fan of ghost stories, detective stories or just well-written prose. In the…