So Mote It Be
Our domain was up for renewal on December 2nd. WordPress just through up a block after my last post. The block prevented me from adding any further posts till I paid them our domain fee. Well I did it and I don’t know how I did. I gave them a credit card which draw money out of my account (which is flat broke).
We need your help to cover the cost of the domain charge. If you will remember we still have the Raffle for a Cause going on. We would deeply appreciate it if we could have a few more donations to cover the domain fee. Plus you will be getting some great merchandise for your donation. We would appreciate any amount you would be willing to donate. Every donation is appreciated and we love you for all the support you have given us in the past.
Thank you so much,
Lady A & The WOTC
A man was walking along a California beach and stumbled across an old lamp. He picked it up and rubbed it and out popped a genie!
The genie said, “OK. You released me from the lamp, blah, blah blah. This is the fourth time this month and I’m getting a little sick of these wishes. So you can forget about getting three wishes. You only get one wish.
The man sat down on the beach and thought about it for awhile. Then he said, “I’ve always wanted to go to Hawaii; but I’m scared to fly and I get very seasick. Could you build me a bridge to Hawaii so that I can drive over there to visit?”
The genie laughed and said, “That’s impossible! Think of the logistics of that! How would the supports ever reach the bottom of the Pacific? Think of how much concrete… how much steel…! No. Think of another wish.”
The man tried to think of another wish. Finally, he said, “I’ve been married and divorced several times. My wives always said that I don’t care and that I’m insensitive. So I wish that I could understand women… know how they feel inside and what they’re thinking when they give me the silent treatment…know why they’re crying…know what they really want when they say, ‘Nothing’…know how to make them truly happy….”
The genie said, “You want that bridge two lanes or four?”
Serving Your Community
To live harmoniously, we need to be supportive and helpful to all people, creatures, and plant life that share this earth with us. While “being of service“ is part of being a good citizen of the world, it also feels good to help others. When we do something for others in service, without the expectation of anything in return, we are turning our actions into offerings.
There are many ways to be of service to our community. There are the obvious and much needed volunteer opportunities, such as serving Thanksgiving dinner at a shelter, mentoring our youth, or cleaning up a beach. Then, there is the kind of service that we may not even think of as being acts of service. Learning a new language (perhaps sign language) so that you can talk to more people is a way to reach out to others. Inviting someone who isn’t motivated enough to exercise on their own to join you on your daily walk is a way to give of yourself. Sharing flowers or vegetables from your garden, organizing a poetry reading, offering to babysit for a busy parent, or donating pet food to an animal shelter all are simple ways to offer your services to your community.
There are many ways that you can serve the world. Imagine the impact we would have on the environment if we picked up one piece of trash off the street everyday and chose not to drive our car once a week. Even gardening tactics such as throwing wildflower seeds onto a vacant lot can brighten the lives of others – including the lives of birds and insects. Everyday, you can do something to make this world a better place. During meditation, ask for guidance on what you can do to be of service. This can be a wonderful way to start your day. Smiling at a stranger who looks down in the dumps or teaching your neighborhood kids how to whistle will impact someone’s day or even their life. Giving of yourself is the best gift that you can give.
October 22 – Daily Feast
Life is a decision, a personal decision. We can stand on drifting sand and believe that whatever will be, will be, or we can stand firmly on principle that if something is wrong we can change it. Instead of nursing pulse-taking tendencies and listening to every commercial on what is available for medical treatment, remember our instructions: Let the weak say, “I am strong.” We can become victims of temporary relief or we can separate ourselves from the hype and discover renewal that is not temporary – but eternal. Relief by the Spirit is a reality – and totally free.
~ This house, the home of the English, is a medicine house, and you come here to tell us lies. ~
SITTING BULL – SIOUX
‘A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II’ by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
While I was searching for graphics, I ran across some fun things for our children. One was a site that had print out graphics for children to color. I will be posting some of these off and on during the Holiday season. If you would like to visit the site, it’s url is http://www.coloring.ws/halloween-witch.htm
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Merry Meet on this glorious and beautiful Lammas Day! I hope everyone is busy celebrating the first Harvest. And I might add I hope it is a very prosperous one indeed!
I would like to take a moment to thank each and everyone of you for making this one of the best years the WOTC has had. I have always said a group/site/blog is nothing without fantastic friends, family and supporters. We have the Goddess to thank for each of you. With Our Almighty Mother all things are possible. Every time I think it is the darkest it can get, She pulls me up by the boot straps. And shows me it is no way by any means over yet. She has given me a blessed life that is for sure.
In the days of Old, our Ancestors would be giving thanks for a bountiful first harvest. They didn’t have the luxuries we do now. I can imagine what they would have given for one John Deere tractor. I know our Ancestors had it rough and the times were tough to say the least. But they had something we no longer have these days, that is charity for our fellow man. If farmer Brown saw farmer Smith didn’t have as good of a harvest as he did. He would take the buggy over to farmer Smith’s house and tell him not to worry. He would help him and his family make it through the Winter months. Farmer Brown wanted nothing in return, just to help out his neighbor, that’s it plain and simple. But farmer Smith didn’t want charity from Brown so he would find a way to repay the debt and show his gratitude at the same time. Boy, how people have changed.
I guess if our Ancestors could see the shape we are in now, they would hang their heads. Probably shed a tear or two also. When I stop to think about living in the greatest nation on this planet, I want to cry. Every night in this country, there are thousands of people going to bed hungry. There are even more sleeping on the street. There are individuals a dollar away from being out on the streets themselves. I was listening to today’s news and they said a local food bank had had a triple increase demand since last year. They couldn’t figure it out. How damn stupid are these people? Do they not realize we are in a depression? I know what really get my feathers’ ruffled is that millions of dollars are being sent overseas. While we have our own babies going to bed hungry each night. People sleeping in the street in the greatest nation in the world.
It is past time that we of the magickal community did something about this. As you know, you don’t have to have money to act. You have the power within you to act. It is past time that petition our Great Mother for help for our nation. For our children going to bed hungry, for the homeless man or woman sleeping in the street, or the empty food banks in this country. We need our Mother’s help! We also need our Mother’s help in cleaning out the ears of the Politicians in this country. The economy is getting better, the unemployment rate is dropping??? Don’t they realize that the unemployment rate is dropping because people can no long draw benefits. Truth be told, it is scary as hell, I raised two kids and my husband worked construction. The money was great. But construction only happens during the Summer months. The money you did manage to save up, you had to live on this next year. As high as things are now and the way the world is, I would hate to think I had to do it now.
I know today is suppose to be a day of celebration for us. But I wanted to drive a point home. Share what the Goddess has given you with those less fortunate. It doesn’t cost a thing to be kind to another individual. We are all the Goddess’ children. Share your many blessings with a local food bank, if you can’t do that then start petitioning our Mother. Because that is what I plan on doing. I am not going to stop till this world of ours starts to change. I am going to ask Her to help feed the small children that go to bed hungry at night. Get that man or woman off the streets and give them a place to sleep that has a roof over it. And most of all makes those damn Politicians wake up and smell the coffee. The Politicians have had their turn at this country. You see what shape it is in. Now it is our turn and I am sure we can do a much better job than they ever did. I beg you to join me in praying to our Almighty Mother for these things.
This is the Year of the Witch. Let us change the course of our country for the good of mankind.
Goddess Bless You. May you have a bountiful and blessed Lammas!
Love,
Lady A
Come Together
We humans have a knack for coming together and rising up to our potential in the face of a tragedy. Natural disasters and acts of violence bring us out of our small selves and into the world, ready to lend a hand to those in need. This experience is often life-changing for those who are willing to step into the position of helper. We feel as if we are finally doing something really important, and this leads us to feeling more self-actualized. We feel more connected to the people we are helping, as well as more connected to humanity in general. As we expand beyond the boundaries of our individualistic pursuit of happiness there can be a complete reality shift. We often find that it is much easier to be happy when we are motivated in an effort to make the world better in tangible ways, by coming to the rescue of those who are suffering.
Considering the many benefits of this kind of gesture, it is surprising that more of us don’t devote our lives, or at least some portion of our time, to serving people in need. We don’t have to wait for a tragedy to come together, as a community or a nation, and offer ourselves to the world in service. Sometimes it’s easier, of course, to respond to an event that has just happened rather than to ongoing problems like homelessness, poverty, and illness. But the truth of this world is that there is always someone in need of our best efforts to rally a group of helpers and healers. Maybe we feel discouraged because these smaller acts and gestures don’t generate the same kind of energy and attention from other people as heroic acts in the face of immediate disaster, and perhaps an effort to change this is one way to change the world.
The more we promote, applaud, and actively inspire humanitarian efforts in the world, the more others will be drawn to this kind of work. We might pay a little less attention to sports and celebrity gossip and a little more attention to those everyday heroes who devote their lives to alleviating suffering. The more attention we pay, the more we will inspire others and ourselves to be of service in a world that greatly needs our attention.
Happy & Blessed Monday to all! I hope you are having a fantastic day. It is beautiful here. You know everything for the WOTC has been going great until just a few days ago. We finally located our building we are going to use as our office. Being a non-profit organization, we were able to secure the building at a very reasonable amount. Over the weekend, we moved our last computer equipment into our new building. Today, we were all sit up and ready to roll but it was a little hot in here. We decided to turn the air unit on to cool the place down. Well the a/c unit is history. We have had an electrician out here and it totally needs to be replaced. After purchasing our new server, the new building, we are flat ass busted. We have no money in the budget for a new unit let alone get the old fixed.
Perhaps you do not realize what all the WOTC does. We are not only an online community but we also provide services offline. We are a community resource in real life for our area Pagans. We contribute funds, assistances and any other ways we can help in natural disasters. We want to open a food pantry also for our local in need Pagan brother and sisters. You see, we are much more than just a spot on the net. We are a very real life Pagan activist organization.
We are strapped for money. Too continue our work on the net, as well as off the net, we need your help. We need to rebuild our funds not only to fix the a/c unit but to also continue our community work in our area.
We ask that you search your heart and please consider helping us. We do for so many, now we need your help.
It doesn’t have to be a huge amount, every dollar counts, even nickels, dimes and pennies. Please we are asking for your assistance in this matter. In case, you loss this post, our donation button will be back up in the sidebar.
Thank you in advance for your help,
Lady Abyss
BRING HARVEST HOME
by Melanie Fire Salamander
Mabon: the second harvest, of grain and in the Northwest of wine grapes. A good time to think about food, harvested from the fields now. Our lead writer meditates on a whole ritual life built around food, the making of bread, oxtail soup and baked figs and eggplant, and the many connections between cooking and magick. So too do we have another writer’s tale of making communion bread, and discussions likewise of making ritual wine and aphrodisiac liqueur.
Food warms the house as it cooks; food warms the body as we eat. After we gather in our harvest and cook or ferment it, often we share it. Breaking bread together has long been a symbol for truce and the establishment of friendship ties. Catherine Harper considers the sacredness of this act in her lead story. In the Lakota and other Native American traditions, the milestones of life are often denoted by sharing not only food but many or all household goods, in a Giveaway ceremony. Napecinkala writes of this ritual in this issue.
One of my favorite images of this season, driving or walking on an evening just as the last stains of sunset leave the sky, is passing in blue darkness a small house set back among trees. Beyond thinning branches, windows golden with light shine. Behind them, I imagine a family or friends around a fire or a laden table, coming together, cozy against the cold night.
I wish you and your family (of birth or choice) a warm harvest and safety against the coming winter.
WISHING POWDER
* The Great Outdoors (This could be your back yard, a park, or forest — any
place where the wishing powder will land on the earth when you release it).
* Anything else you feel you need to personalize your wish.
You will need to craft the wishing powder ahead of time.
You can either do this at home in a Circle or, if you don’t mind taking your mortal
and pestle along with you, you can make it outside where you plan to use it.
(This isn’t too hard to do if you’re staying in your own backyard).
* 2 parts sage * 1 part sandalwood * 1 part Tonka beans
Grind, mix, and empower.
If you’re feeling adventurous, customize your wishing powder to the wish you’ll be making.
(Example: Crushed rose petals for bringing love into your life).
Find a spot to make our wishes from.
Take a handful of the wishing powder and begin concentrating on your wishes.
(Please do not put yourself in danger to make a wish.
A wish is just as powerful whether it’s made standing on a rock on the side of a steep
hill or standing in a field). Put your energy and wish into the powder you are holding.
When it feels like you can no longer hold the energy, let it fly.
As the powder settles to the ground, visualize your wishes joining with the Earth,
gaining power and strength.
As always, remember the Rule of Three when making your wish.
After putting the energy out there, it’s impossible to call it back.
Remember the old saying, “Be careful what you wish for, you may get it.”
If you are worried about where to get Tonka Beans (as needed for the above wishing spell).
You can do an easy search for them through any search engine to find them.
Vanilla Beans/pods are a Substitute
The functional family is a team that symbolizes the ideal of human interdependence, and has long provided a firm foundation for society. The healthy family is a microcosm of society and the native soil in which ethical values take root and grow. Fertilize this soil, and the whole of society benefits.
The power that bonds a tribe is the yin or feminine principle — gentleness and receptivity. Relationships are improved through cultivation of these. Learn to accept both advice and aid from others, and be willing to assume an appropriate role in any group that supports good relating. A good team player is always valuable to others. Increase your value!
Thursday, May 5th, 2011
General Meaning: A community or extended family that works is one where healthy interdependence is appreciated and supported. Good direction is essential, but strong kinship is dependent upon every member of the community. Trust, shared responsibilities and good communication are essential. Each member must be encouraged to find his or her appropriate expression, and contribution.
The functional family is a team that symbolizes the ideal of human interdependence, and has long provided a firm foundation for society. The healthy family is a microcosm of society and the native soil in which ethical values take root and grow. Fertilize this soil, and the whole of society benefits.
The power that bonds a tribe is the yin or feminine principle — gentleness and receptivity. Relationships are improved through cultivation of these. Learn to accept both advice and aid from others, and be willing to assume an appropriate role in any group that supports good relating. A good team player is always valuable to others. Increase your value!
Witches Of The Craft® 