I cannot begin to thank you enough for your love and most of all being my friends and my family! I love each and everyone of you. It was total unexpected. I knew I had showed Jacob too much about this site. “Hatched!” well I guess that is better than being found under a cabbage leaf or is it?  Anyway, thank you so much for your wonderful words, love, caring and most of all being my dear, precious family!

Now I got a few changes to make real quick. After we get back to looking like a witchcraft site instead of a candy store, we will get to work.

Wishing you and yours a very blessed Ostara!

With much love,

Lady of the Abyss

Happy Birthday, Lady A!

Happy Irish Heritage Day!

You heard me correctly, we don’t celebrate St. Patrick’s Day around here. We do celebrate our Irish Heritage though. Why might you ask don’t we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, well it is the same story I tell every year. But this year I will try to make it shorter. You see it is out of respect from our dear brothern Druids. You have all heard the story of St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland. Those snakes they were referring to is the Druids and the Pagans. He was captured by the Pagans and was a slave for many years. He escaped his bondage and headed straight to the Catholic Church. The Pope at that time was trying to wipe Pagans and Druids off the map and especially in Ireland. Ireland had numerous clans, the Pope figured if he wiped out the Druids, he could conquer the Pagans and all the clans. The Druids was considered the leaders, the heads of state, religious leaders and so on. He sent St. Patrick back to Ireland since he already knew the people and the land so good and told him to wipe us off the face of the map.

Now tell me truthfully how can you celebrate a man, in particular a Saint, whose main mission on this planet is to wipe you off the face of the earth? Sorry I can’t. I do have some Druids in my family and out of respect to them I will not celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Back to the story in the last paragraph lol. You heard about how St. Patrick run the snakes out of Ireland, those snakes were the Druids. Previously, the Roman army had made its main mission to wipe the Druids out. Caesar got got tired of all the clans in Ireland there was to fight. He learned about the leadership of these clans which happened to be the Druids. He decided he would go on a raiding party or two to wipe them out. He did a fairly good job but as fate would have it, he left a few behind. Thank the Goddess for that. St. Patrick is then sent in to finish wiping the Druids and Pagans out of Ireland. Oh, how he thought he had done it. He held a great big rally at one of the old Pagan churches now converted over to Christian and announced, “Ireland is free of Snakes!” He wasted his breathe in the crowd were some of those snakes that he had run off. While other escaped to other Isles, some stayed. I think they stayed mostly to lead raids and keep our faith or the Druid faith alive.

We have one Druid with us now. Out of respect for him and my ancestors, I wish you a very Happy Irish Heritage Day! Oh, that doesn’t mean you can’t drink all the green beer you want. Feel free, just remember every time you take a drink it is for one of our fallen brethren that that sip is for.

HAPPY IRISH HERITAGE DAY!

Lady of the Abyss

&

The WOTC STAFF

I have been up since 2 this morning straightening out the store. I ran into a section that you wouldn’t believe because I didn’t believe it. So I am blurry eyed and crossed eye at the same time. Anyway, I thought of an old Irish toast that we switch up, if can be used by the men or by the women, just change the wording in it. Oh, yeah, you probably heard it in the movie “Master & Commander” also. I caught they were using Irish toasts in the movie on one or two occasions. Anyway here is the toast……

Raise you mug, glass, whatever up in the air……

Say:

(For the women)

I would like to toast all the men in my life

One for my husband

Two for my lover

And hope like hell the two shall never meet!

Cheers!

Now guys, I am sure I don’t have to tell you which words to substitute. If I do, you have already had one two many, lol!

The text which contains this legend is found cut in hieroglyphics upon a stele which is now preserved in Paris.  Attention was first called to it by Chabas, who in 1857 gave a translation of it in the Revue Archeologique, p. 65 ff., and pointed out the importance of its contents with his characteristic ability.  The hieroglyphic text was first published by Ledrain in his work on the monuments of the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris,[see note 3] and I gave a transcript of the text, with transliteration and translation, in 1895.

[Note 3]  Les Monuments Egyptiens (Cabinet des Medailles et Antiques), In the Bibliotheque de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Paris, 1879-1882, plate xxii. ff.

The greater part of the text consists of a hymn to Osiris, which was probably composed under the XVIII Dynasty, when an extraordinary development of the cult of that god took place, and when he was placed by Egyptian theologians at the head of all the gods.  Though unseen in the temples, his presence filled all Egypt, and his body formed the very substance of the country.  He was the God of all gods and the Governor of the Two Companies of the gods, he formed the soul and body of Ra, he was the beneficent Spirit of all spirits, he was himself the celestial food on which the Doubles in the Other World lived. He was the greatest of the gods in On (Heliopolis), Memphis, Herakleopolis, Hermopolis, Abydos, and the region of the First Cataract, and so.  He embodied in his own person the might of Ra-Tem, Apis and Ptah, the Horus-gods, Thoth and Khnemu, and his rule over Busiris and Abydos continued to be supreme, as it had been for many, many hundreds of years.  He was the source of the Nile, the north wind sprang from him, his seats were the stars of heaven which never set, and the imperishable stars were his ministers.  All heaven was his dominion, and the doors of the sky opened before him of their own accord when he appeared.  He inherited the earth from his father Keb, and the sovereignty of heaven from his mother Nut.  In his person he united endless time in the past and endless time in the future.  Like Ra he had fought Seba, or Set, the monster of evil, and had defeated him, and his victory assured to him lasting authority over the gods and the dead.  He exercised his creative power in making land and water, trees and herbs, cattle and other four-footed beasts, birds of all kinds, and fish and creeping things; even the waste spaces of the desert owed allegiance to him as the creator.  And he rolled out the sky, and set the light above the darkness….Read More

The original text of this very interesting legend is written in the hieratic character on a papyrus preserved at Turin, and was published by Pleyte and Rossi in their Corpus of Turin Papyri. French and German translations of it were published by Lefebure,  and Wiedemann respectively, and summaries of its contents were given by Erman and Maspero.  A transcript of the hieratic text into hieroglyphics, with transliteration and translation, was published by me in 1895.

It has already been seen that the god Ra, when retiring from the government of this world, took steps through Thoth to supply mankind with words of power and spells with which to protect themselves against the bites of serpents and other noxious reptiles.  The legend of the Destruction of Mankind affords no explanation of this remarkable fact, but when we read the following legend of Ra and Isis we understand why Ra, though king of the gods, was afraid of the reptiles which lived in the kingdom of Keb.

The legend, or “Chapter of the Divine God,” begins by enumerating the mighty attributes of Ra as the creator of the universe, and describes the god of “many names” as unknowable, even by the gods.  At this time Isis lived in the form of a woman who possessed the knowledge of spells and incantations, that is to say, she was regarded much in the same way as modern African peoples regard their “medicine-women,” or “witch-women.”  She had used her spells on men, and was tired of exercising her powers on them, and she craved the opportunity of making herself mistress of gods and spirits as well as of men.  She meditated how she could make herself mistress both of heaven and earth, and finally she decided that she could only obtain the power she wanted if she possessed the knowledge of the secret name of Ra, in which his very existence was bound up.  Ra guarded this name most jealously, for he knew that if he revealed it to any being he would henceforth be at that being’s mercy.  Isis saw that it was impossible to make Ra declare his name to her by ordinary methods, and she therefore thought out the following plan….Read More

According to a Washington Post article, the state of California has appointed an “undocumented” attorney Lisbeth Mateo to an advisory committee named “Cal-SOAP”, as reported from the office of the state senate president pro tem Kevin de Leon.

I assume that the term “undocumented” here is a substitute for the term “Illegal”?

It seems as reported in the article that Ms. Mateo was born in Oaxaca Mexico and brought to the U. S. at age 14 by her parents. She was educated in California and received a Law degree from Santa Clara University in 2016, passed the state bar exam and  having a private practice in Wilmington California. One question here, how can you in good faith address or attempt to represent the laws which you yourself are in violation of? This seems to be a contradiction of the oath I’m sure she had to take.

Too her credit it does seem she applied for legal status in 2015 under DACA, but was twice denied. Because she traveled to Mexico in 2013 as part of the “Bring them Home” campaign. An Attempt to test the border agents upon returning. According to the article.

The reports cites De Leon Chairs the Senate Rules Committee, which is amazing as there seems to be no rules in that state. He reported to say he picked Ms. Mateo “‘as some one who’ embodies California values, and the American dream”. That is very interesting as its seems California values seem to differ from the rest of the country they no longer consider it part of …..Read More

THE LEGEND OF THE DESTRUCTION OF MANKIND

The text containing the Legend of the Destruction of Mankind is written in hieroglyphs, and is found on the four walls of a small chamber which is entered from the “hall of columns” in the tomb of Seti  I, which is situated on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes.  On the wall facing the door of this chamber is painted in red the figure of the large “Cow of Heaven.”  The lower part of her belly is decorated with a series of thirteen stars, and immediately beneath it are the two Boats of Ra, called Semketet and Mantchet, or Sektet and Matet.  Each of her four legs is held in position by two gods, and the god Shu, with outstretched uplifted arms, supports her body.  The Cow was published by Champollion, without the text.  This most important mythological text was first published and translated by Professor E. Naville in 1874. It was republished by Bergmann and Brugsch, who gave a transcription of the text, with a German translation.  Other German versions by Lauth, Brugsch, and Wiedemann have appeared, and a part of the text was translated into French by Lefebure. The latest edition of the text was published by Lefebure, and text of a second copy, very much mutilated, was published by Professor Naville, with a French translation in 1885. The text printed in this volume is that of M. Lefebure.

The legend takes us back to the time when the gods of Egypt went about in the country, and mingled with men and were thoroughly acquainted with their desires and needs.  The king who reigned over Egypt was Ra, the Sun-god, who was not, however, the first of the Dynasty of Gods who ruled the land.  His predecessor on the throne was Hephaistos, who, according to Manetho, reigned 9000 years, whilst Ra reigned only 992 years; Panodorus makes his reign to have lasted less than 100 years.

Be this as it may, it seems that the “self-created and self-begotten” god Ra had been ruling over mankind for a very long time, for his subjects were murmuring against him, and they were complaining that he was old, that his bones were like silver, his body like gold, and his hair like lapis-lazuli.  When Ra heard these murmurings he ordered his bodyguard to summon all the gods who had been with him in the primeval World-ocean, and to bid them privately to assemble in the Great House, which can be no other than the famous temple of Heliopolis.  This statement is interesting, for it proves that the legend is of Heliopolitan origin, like the cult of Ra itself, and that it does not belong, at least in so far as it applies to Ra, to the Pre-dynastic Period…..Read More

THE LEGEND OF THE GOD NEB-ER-TCHER, AND THE HISTORY OF CREATION.

The text of the remarkable Legend of the Creation which forms the first section of this volume is preserved in a well-written papyrus in the British Museum, where it bears the number 10,188.  This papyrus was acquired by the late Mr. A. H. Rhind in 1861 or 1862, when he was excavating some tombs on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes.  He did not himself find it in a tomb, but he received it from the British Consul at Luxor, Mustafa Agha, during an interchange of gifts when Mr. Rhind was leaving the country.  Mustafa Agha obtained the papyrus from the famous hiding-place of the Royal Mummies at Der-al-Bahari, with the situation of which he was well acquainted for many years before it became known to the Egyptian Service of Antiquities.  When Mr. Rhind came to England, the results of his excavations were examined by Dr. Birch, who, recognizing the great value of the papyrus, arranged to publish it in a companion volume to Facsimiles of Two Papyri, but the death of Mr. Rhind in 1865 caused the project to fall through.  Mr. Rhind’s collection passed into the hands of Mr. David Bremner, and the papyrus, together with many other antiquities, was purchased by the Trustees of the British Museum. In 1880 Dr. Birch suggested the publication of the papyrus to Dr. Pleyte, the Director of the Egyptian Museum at Leyden.  This savant transcribed and translated some passages from the Festival Songs of Isis and Nephthys, which is the first text in it, and these he published in Recueil de Travaux, Paris, tom. iii., pp. 57-64.

In 1886 by Dr. Birch’s kindness I was allowed to work at the papyrus, and I published transcripts of some important passages and the account of the Creation in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, 1886-7, pp. 11-26.  The Legend of the Creation was considered by Dr. H. Brugsch to be of considerable value for the study of the Egyptian Religion, and encouraged by him, I made a full transcript of the papyrus, which was published in Archaeologia, (vol. lii., London, 1891), with transliterations and translations.  In 1910 I edited for the Trustees of the British Museum the complete hieratic text with a revised translation….Read More

A Tale of the Trojan War

THE APPLE OF DISCORD

There was once a war so great that the sound of it has come ringing down the centuries from singer to singer, and will never die.

The rivalries of men and gods brought about many calamities, but none so heavy as this; and it would never have come to pass, they say, if it had not been for jealousy among the immortals,–all because of a golden apple! But Destiny has nurtured ominous plants from little seeds; and this is how one evil grew great enough to overshadow heaven and earth.

The sea-nymph Thetis (whom Zeus himself had once desired for his wife) was given in marriage to a mortal, Peleus, and there was a great wedding-feast in heaven. Thither all the immortals were bidden, save one, Eris, the goddess of Discord, ever an unwelcome guest. But she came unbidden. While the wedding-guests sat at feast, she broke in upon their mirth, flung among them a golden apple, and departed with looks that boded ill. Someone picked up the strange missile and read its inscription: “For the Fairest”; and at once discussion arose among the goddesses. They were all eager to claim the prize, but only three persisted.

Venus, the very goddess of beauty, said that it was hers by right; but Juno could not endure to own herself less fair than another, and even Athena coveted the palm of beauty as well as of wisdom, and would not give it up! Discord had indeed come to the wedding-feast. Not one of the gods dared to decide so dangerous a question,–not Zeus himself, –and the three rivals were forced to choose a judge among mortals….Read More

A Tale of Greece

Among all those mortals who grew so wise that they learned the secrets of the gods, none was more cunning than Daedalus.

He once built, for King Minos of Crete, a wonderful Labyrinth of winding ways so cunningly tangled up and twisted around that, once inside, you could never find your way out again without a magic clue. But the king’s favor veered with the wind, and one day he had his master architect imprisoned in a tower. Daedalus managed to escape from his cell; but it seemed impossible to leave the island, since every ship that came or went was well guarded by order of the king.

At length, watching the sea-gulls in the air,–the only creatures that were sure of liberty,–he thought of a plan for himself and his young son Icarus, who was captive with him.

Little by little, he gathered a store of feathers great and small. He fastened these together with thread, moulded them in with wax, and so fashioned two great wings like those of a bird. When they were done, Daedalus fitted them to his own shoulders, and after one or two efforts, he found that by waving his arms he could winnow the air and cleave it, as a swimmer does the sea. He held himself aloft, wavered this way and that with the wind, and at last, like a great fledgling, he learned to fly….Read More

A Tale of Greece

When gods and shepherds piped and the stars sang, that was the day of musicians! But the triumph of Phoebus Apollo himself was not so wonderful as the triumph of a mortal man who lived on earth, though some say that he came of divine lineage. This was Orpheus, that best of harpers, who went with the Grecian heroes of the great ship Argo in search of the Golden Fleece.

After his return from the quest, he won Eurydice for his wife, and they were as happy as people can be who love each other and everyone else. The very wild beasts loved them, and the trees clustered about their home as if they were watered with music. But even the gods themselves were not always free from sorrow, and one day misfortune came upon that harper Orpheus whom all men loved to honor.

Eurydice, his lovely wife, as she was wandering with the nymphs, unwittingly trod upon a serpent in the grass. Surely, if Orpheus had been with her, playing upon his lyre, no creature could have harmed her. But Orpheus came too late. She died of the sting, and was lost to him in the Underworld.

For days he wandered from his home, singing the story of his loss and his despair to the helpless passers-by. His grief moved the very stones in the wilderness, and roused a dumb distress in the hearts of savage beasts. Even the gods on Mount Olympus gave ear, but they held no power over the darkness of Hades….Read More

A Greek Tale

Even with the gifts of Prometheus, men could not rest content. As years went by, they lost all the innocence of the early world; they grew more and more covetous and evil-hearted. Not satisfied with the fruits of the Earth, or with the fair work of their own hands, they delved in the ground after gold and jewels; and for the sake of treasure nations made war upon each other and hate sprang up in households. Murder and theft broke loose and left nothing sacred.

At last Zeus spoke. Calling the gods together, he said: “Ye see what the Earth has become through the baseness of men. Once they were deserving of our protection; now they even neglect to ask it. I will destroy them with my thunderbolts and make a new race.”

But the gods withheld him from this impulse. “For,” they said, “let not the Earth, the mother of all, take fire and perish. But seek out some means to destroy mankind and leave her unhurt.”

So Zeus unloosed the waters of the world and there was a great flood.

The streams that had been pent in narrow channels, like wild steeds bound to the ploughshare, broke away with exultation; the springs poured down from the mountains, and the air was blind with rain. Valleys and uplands were covered; strange countries were joined in one great sea; and where the highest trees had towered, only a little greenery pricked through the water, as weeds show in a brook….Read More

THE DELUGE OF OGYGES

The first Egyptian who thus settled in Greece was a prince called Inachus. Landing in that country, which has a most delightful climate, he taught the Pelasgians how to make fire and how to cook their meat. He also showed them how to build comfortable homes by piling up stones one on top of another, much in the same way as the farmer makes the stone walls around his fields.

The Pelasgians were intelligent, although so uncivilized; and they soon learned to build these walls higher, in order to keep the wild beasts away from their homes. Then, when they had learned the use of bronze and iron tools, they cut the stones into huge blocks of regular shape.

These stone blocks were piled one upon another so cleverly that some of the walls are still standing, although no mortar was used to hold the stones together. Such was the strength of the Pelasgians that they raised huge blocks to great heights, and made walls which their descendants declared must have been built by giants….Read More

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2018 March 16

The Seagull and the Duck 
Image Credit & Copyright: Raul Villaverde Fraile

Explanation: Seen as a seagull and a duck, these nebulae are not the only cosmic clouds to evoke images of flight. But both are winging their way across this broad celestial landscape, spanning almost 7 degrees across planet Earth’s night skytoward the constellation Canis Major. The expansive Seagull (top center) is itself composed of two major cataloged emission nebulae. Brighter NGC 2327 forms the head with the more diffuse IC 2177 as the wings and body. Impressively, the Seagull’s wingspan would correspond to about 250 light-years at the nebula’s estimated distance of 3,800 light-years. At the lower right, the Duck appears much more compact and would span only about 50 light-years given its 15,000 light-year distance estimate. Blown by energetic winds from an extremely massive, hot star near its center, the Duck nebula is cataloged as NGC 2359. Of course, the Duck’s thick body and winged appendages also lend it the slightly more dramatic popular moniker, Thor’s Helmet.

Westward shift of Orion and all the stars

Moon in Pisces

The Moon is traveling through Pisces today. You may feel disconnected. Serve others. Listen to music. Paint a picture. Daydream.

We are not inclined to want to face reality while the Moon is in dreamy, impressionable Pisces. It can be a wistful, sensitive, intuitive, and compassionate time. We are especially imaginative, and our intuition reigns under this influence. Boundaries and walls come down, as Pisces energy merges and blends. It’s a time when details are overlooked and feelings defy description.

The Moon in Pisces generally favors the following activities: Imaginative undertakings, mystical or spiritual pursuits, inner development, music and drama, going on a retreat, activities involving water.