27 October 2013

Samhain Memories


This article is part of Kallan's wonderful Sunday Stew. Please hop on over and read all the different flavors added by each chef. I know that you will love it!







When I was a child Halloween was the best! It was my most favorite holiday. I loved getting dressed up and being someone or something else. I loved the season with it's smells and colors.

My grandparents pretty much raised me for much of my life and we lived next door to them.  As far as I was concerned, they had the best yard in the neighborhood. They had birch trees with paper barks and a dirt area underneath, where I could be in my own world and connect with nature.  There was a large tulip maple that in the summer had flowers, but in the fall was a brilliant, fiery orange. Their neighborhood was lined with large trees and just outside their gate, next to the mailbox, was a gigantic dogwood.

Me with my Mamaw and Papaw 


Their neighborhood was perfect for trick-or-treating. When I was a child, parents brought their children to that neighborhood, if they didn't live in it already.

One year I woke with horrible, horrible kidney infection on Halloween day. I kept those pretty regularly, and I knew what it was when I felt the pain in my back. I think I was around the age of 8 or 9. I woke up that morning with pain, but I didn't say a word because I still wanted to go trick-or-treating. That evening when it was time for the candy collection, I made it halfway around the block before I yelled out in pain. I couldn't move my legs from the pain of it. I stood and cried, with tears and sweat filling my plastic mask. I don't remember how I got back home, but my mother stayed out with my friend that was with me. My friend took my bag with her and told them what happened and my bag was also filled with hers.

I took my own children to that neighborhood years ago to see if it was the same, and sadly it wasn't. There were no children knocking on doors, no laughter, no running through the leaves.

Nowadays, kids are lucky if they get to go neighborhood hunting for candy. It seems that most church people would rather take them to the church trunk-or-treat or to a "harvest party". They seem to have forgotten that Halloween was created by the church and instead tell their members that they should not participate in an evil holiday created by the devil.  The hilarity of it all? They are still dressing up. I've seen pictures of children in costumes dressed as some bloody killer with their fake blood and fake machetes, while at the church harvest party.

I'm not sure how you see Samhain, but I sure as heck do not equate it with ruthless killing and gore. I used to be friends with someone that would have gory Halloween parties, but thought that I was wrong in being a witch, because I was evil in some way. I can't stand scary, gory movies.  I don't like the bloody decorations put out in the stores. The killer clowns, the cutoff legs or hands, the hanging, bloody bodies from trees. That is not how I feel about this time of year.

Oh, I decorate. I love the glittery witch decor. I do have a graveyard in my yard, but there are no zombies or bloody body parts. I have pumpkins, witch brooms, cauldrons, potion bottles, ravens, and owls.

For me, it is remembering my connection with who I am. It is looking back at my growth from the previous year, honoring my grandparents and sister that have moved on from this world. It is feeling and connecting to the energy of this planet that we live on. It is moving forward into a new year and growing from my mistakes and triumphs of the past year.

Today also would have been my Mamaw's birthday :)




24 October 2013

Samhain's Sirens: Samhain's Sirens , Day 21, October 24

If you've been wanting one of my Spirit Boards, then your chance to win one is up! Don't miss out on today's giveaway!


Samhain's Sirens: Samhain's Sirens , Day 21, October 24: Thursday is here already, can you believe it? We have a lot of fun in store for you today! First, let's check out this day in histo...

13 October 2013

Take My Hand, Let's Dance ~~A Short Story




Wait a minute. How did I get here? Wait. I was.....what was I doing? I was driving! Yes! I was driving and I was waiting to cross the road.......but, why am I here? Am I having a memory lapse?

I was sucked? Sucked into darkness..........and.....now....

"Onion" The deep, rich voice reverberated somewhere behind me.


"NO"...."NO!"......there was only one entity that called me Onion. I refused to look behind me. I will not acknowledge.

"Onion, you have to look at me."

"I don't! And I won't!" I will throw a fit. I will not look at Orion.

My vehicle was coming into view out of the darkness. The suckiness was wearing off of me and I could see somewhat........like through a veil. Huh. Whadya know about that.

My beautiful car was smashed. Trashed. And suddenly the memory of the whole incident rushed back to me like a silent movie that someone had hit fast forward on. The semi veered crazily and hit me going super fast. I was just sitting there, but it didn't matter. There was nothing that could have been done.

NOOOOO! What about my husband and children! I need to buy my groceries and cook dinner! What's going to happen?! I need to fix this! I need.....

"Onion"

"Would you just shut the fuck up!"

Why won't he leave?! Orion, in my life, is my Spirit Guide. We met on my Psychic Circle Board. He taught me all I know about the great beyond, and I never really took it seriously.....he told me that he had a job as Death. He reaped the spirits that crossed, by saying to them "Take my hand, let's dance."

That bastard will NOT say this to me.

Once when I was in that space between sleep and wake, at the cusp of dreamland, he pulled me from my body. I could see him though my eyelids. He crouched down and checked to see if I was sleeping. His eyes are bottle green in color. A vibrant, almost shocking emerald. That was the only time I had ever seen those eyes. He had flowing, brown hair. I remember thinking how much like a romance novel model he looked. He had taken my hand and lifted it and I remember how it felt. Like my hand wasn't in my body anymore. It was a strange sensation. It woke me from the cusp, and I opened my eyes. My hand dropped out of the air. I remember wanting to see him again.

I think he would be the ugliest thing ever now. I will not look behind me!

I want to be in my car, driving and listening to Manson, like I was. I want that mangled mess fixed NOW!!!! I want it fixed! I want it fixed! I want to feel my husband kiss my neck. I want to make dinner and watch The Big Bang Theory and laugh. I am not here! I am not! I am not!

"Onion, you know the drill. I've told you. You have three days to say your goodbyes and get over this. I suggest you do it. You don't want to stay here."

"Damn you, you bastard!" I never turned around.

He was gone. He left me. He left me! What do I do? Do I stand here and watch them clean up my mess? I want my husband! I want him now! I squeezed my eyes shut and screamed.

I was in my home. Time seems to be different. It is dark and silent. Shakespeare, my black cat sees me and hisses. Scaredy cat. My youngest daughter runs across the room. I can hear sobbing.

I don't want to be here. I should have gone with O. I don't think that I can deal with this. This pressing sadness. I look towards my bedroom, and suddenly I'm there. I see my husband lying on the bed. My oldest daughter is sitting next to him. I can hear the sobbing, but it sounds far off, like in a dream. DAMN IT!!!

I don't want to be here!

Time has changed again. My oldest daughter is releasing butterflies. So is my son. They remembered that I had mentioned wanting this done at my wake. I go towards them and my son lifts his head and sniffs the air. He looks at me and stares. Shit. I forgot he can see. I smile at him and fade.

I look over and see the bastard in his ridiculous, cliched cloak. Has it been three days? It can't have already been three days? What have I been doing?

He reaches his hand out.

"Don't you dare say it, O. Don't you dare."

His hand stays out, but he says nothing. I finally allow myself to look at his green eyes.

I see us sitting in a circle, laughing at the board. The 4 of our group when I met O. He was spelling out a limerick. One of his roses are red, violets are blue limericks. Now I can see where he was standing in the room. He was next to me, looking over my shoulder.

I sigh a ghostly sigh and walk over to him. "You bastard."

"Take my hand, Onion. Let's dance"

I reached for his outstretched hand and laughed. We danced toward the light.










Samhain/Halloween Reading for the Family

This article is part of Kallan's wonderful Sunday Stew. Please hop on over and read all the different flavors added by each chef. I know that you will love it!


This week I thought I would just do a fun little blog about some good books to read with your kids during this time of year.  I used to homeschool my son and we enjoyed several books, and I would like to share them with you.

I am also a collector of children's books. I also like fantasy books. I have quite an extensive collection of children's books, so for those of you with young children or grandchildren, I hope that you find this list appealing for this time of year. While most aren't pagan, they are wonderful and most of them do have some wonderful lessons.

The first one is one of my most favorite.

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The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury
Oh, how I love this short story. Pipkin and his friends have a wonderful night of trick-or-treating planned but Pipkin becomes sick. What follows is a great adventure that takes the children through Egypt, Druid Rites, Mexico, and Notre Dame! You are really missing out if you haven't read this one. They've even made a cartoon of it (and Leonard Nimoy is a voice), which is also a really good watch.




The next one is probably more suited to older children.





The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irviing.
Ichabod Crane, Brom Bones, Katrina, and a headless horseman ever looking for his head. What more do you need in a short story?

For the younger set, you can go with the Disney's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow




This next book has been a favorite in our family since my daughter was in Kindergarten (she's now 24).



The Widow's Broom by Chris Van Allsburg
With beautiful illustrations and a story with a lesson in tolerance, you can't go wrong with this book.
Just what happens to a broom when it starts to lose it's magic? A widow finds a witch crashed in her garden. She tends the witch to better health and the next morning finds that the witch has taken her broom and left the magic one in its place. The widow finds the broom to be useful and a great companion but her neighbors are scared of it. It is a super story.





This one is a bit more pagan-centric.
Child of Faerie, Child of Earth by Jane Yolen
A human girl and a faerie boy meet on Halloween night and spend time exploring each other's worlds, which leads to a lifetime friendship.


Now, the next one.....I know, it has a green witch. But, please don't let that stop you from buying this book to read.




Miss Fiona's Stupendous Pumpkin Pies by Mark Kimball Moulton
It is a wonderful story (poem) about a witch and her fabulous pies. They ALL love her pies, including the pink rabbits! Wonderful for the younger set.

and finally, this is one that you see in every store's book section at this time of year. This is a delightful story of helping one another .

Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson




This has also been recently made into a cartoon! I haven't gotten the dvd yet, but I plan to get it this week. My grandson just loves to read the book with me (he yells every time the witch drops something), so I know we will love the cartoon.




That concludes my list of wonderful books for this time of year. I hope you will want to check out a couple of them and enjoy them with your children or grandchildren.

You can see a further selection of Samhain/Halloween books on the 2015 post here


Bright Blessings, 
Loren (Saga)






06 October 2013

Spiritual Protection Bags

This article is part of Kallan's wonderful Sunday Stew. Please hop on over and read all the different flavors added by each chef. I know that you will love it!






Since the Veil is getting thinner, the ability to communicate with Other Side is becoming easier and easier. While most people relish this time of getting closer to their spirit friends, there are some that feel it and they dread it.
My older son is one of the "dreaders". Read my post about him HERE. He has always been able to see spirits to a higher degree than me. My son and one of friends came over for some more spiritual protection the other night.
After I performed the spell for my son that put his spirit in a jar, I've had some interesting results. This will also be a lesson to all of you that "board". Since I did the spell, I have not been able to speak to anyone but this spirit that I trapped, on the board. It was heinous. It was continually telling me that it was "assigned" to Curtis and that it was sent as a lesson. My spirit guide couldn't come through at all and honestly, it was getting tiring. I also had to wax the top of the jar. The lid kept loosening.
I spoke with Christian Day about it and he offered me a very simple solution, that in my aggravation, I didn't think of. (Thank you, Christian) He said to simply put the jar inside a ring of salt. It worked like a charm. My spirit guide, Orion, was able to come through and he informed me that the spirit had been lying, it was not assigned to Curt. I knew the little bastard (my nickname for it) was lying to me. But, I thought I would include this story so that you would understand how some spirits work and that you cannot fall for everything that is told to you on a board. This spirit had attached itself to my son because of his energy and it enjoyed being around him.
Now, I mentioned that my son brought a friend with him that also wanted help. I have his spirit in a jar also. I have performed the same spell for him. His was a psychic attack placed on him by a priest of Santeria. It happened when he was still a teenager, in Florida. He has known for the past few years that something just wasn't right, and he felt like he was being followed. My spirit guide confirmed this during our board session.
Since both boys were having trouble with spirits, I thought that I would make protection bags for them to carry to keep the spirits at bay. They are a little different in their contents and I am going to walk you through the steps for each.
We will do Curtly's (my nickname for him) first. He is open to spirits constantly, so in his I included items to ground him.




The stones used in his:
Tiger's eye: This stone helps to keep away unwanted spirits
Citrine: Helps to ward the negativity that can be caused by spirits.
Clear Quartz: This one helps to turn the negative energy to good energy, if there is any that gets past the citrine.
Red Jasper: Good for cleaning and stabilizing the aura
Hematite: To help with grounding
Howlite: This stone is great for protecting against unwanted spirits.
and finally his totem which is an elephant made of dolomite
Dolomite: Excellent for balancing the spiritul, emotional, and physical features of a person



For the herbs in Curt's I used:
Cinnamon (pictured above): General protection and to ward negative energies (I would be lying if I didn't say that I also had future girlfriends in mind
Dragon's Blood (pictured above): Protection from all evils
High John Root (pictured above): please forgive my misspelling of conqueror in the pic, I had only had one cup of coffee and I saved before I fixed it. High John is just a good all around root, and it is great for psychic protection.



Hawthorn Berries: Good general protection
Angelica: Great for banishing evil spirits

Nettle: Protect against psychic attacks and to remove negative energies



For Curtly's friend, his will be a little different, but not much. I will tweak his for more of a psychic attack protection.

He got the same stones as Curtis, minus the totem, and add an amethyst.



Amethyst: Protection against witchcraft



For his herbs he got a little different mix.

He was given the dragon's blood, hawthorn, nettle, high john, and cinnamon like Curt, but I also added:


Dill: general protection and protection against psychic attacks



Clove: This is a great protection against intentional magical attack and psychic attack



Pennyroyal: protection against psychic attacks

Blue Vervain: protection and peace

Vetiver root: this root strengthens the body's auric field and offers protection



Then as an afterthought, I added Mandrake to both bags:

Mandrake: good all around protection



Needless to say, their small bags were packed. But, they both were happy with them. I forgot to take a picture of the finished bags, but there is one of them in second picture of the stones, to show you what I used.


I hope this helps anyone that needs a protection as the veil thins. If you have any questions or comments regarding this, please don't hesitate to send me a message.


Brightest blessings, 

Loren

























01 October 2013

The Samhain's Sirens kickoff is today!

Do NOT miss out on this wonderful party!

Tara from PIP designs is giving away a blog makeover (she designed this wonderful blog for me)

and there is a giveaway for a beautiful handmade Book of Shadows from Lapulia Studios!

Go! What are you waiting for?

Samhain's Sirens Party