Hippie Samhain!

Samhain is upon us yet again, and the Wheel of the Year has turned back to the beginning. The Veil has thinned, and the Other Side is bleeding through. By now you know, we like to keep things simple here in the Hippie household. That does not, however, make our observation of this Festival any less meaningful or powerful.

Our Jack-o-Lanterns will be lit, to guide our ancestors to our door and drive away those spirits who mean to be tricksters. We will dress up in costumes to fool those same tricksters into thinking we are one of them. At dinner tonight, we will set a place at our table for those who have passed. We will pass a cup and toast to memories of them, and when we have finished leave an offering out for the spirits and the faeries. Once our girls are down from their trick or treat sugar high and tucked into bed, The Hubs and I will walk, hand in hand, to our outdoor altar and call a quiet circle. There we will thank the Quarters and the Lady and Lord for the blessings of the dying year. Then we will stand in silence, feeling the night and looking at the stars, until we are moved to open our circle, 

Whatever you do to mark this day, may it be blessed, and may you all be blessed in the coming year. Magick and ritual need not be grand, showy, or great solemn and complicated ritual, although those have their place. If all you are able to do is light a candle and quietly acknowledge Samhain tonight, that is as powerful as any ritual, because it put Samhain in your heart and mind.

Brightest Blessings 

Monday Message 10/31/11

Fall Herb Garden

Dirty Little Secret Circle

I'm not gonna lie, I am loving this show.

Of course Magickally it's bullshit, but I love it for the same reasons I loved Passions when it was on NBC. It's a ridiculous guilty pleasure.

Maybe I'm supposed to be all up in arms about how my "culture" is portrayed in movies and TV, but I love most of the cheesy witch themed crap that Hollywood churns out.

I love Hocus Pocus, The Craft, I was bummed when the Witches of Eastwick show was cancelled. My love for witchy stereotypes is well known. My Mom, who is a Christian but is absolutely open and supportive of my Paganism sent me this care package for Halloween.

here's the back of the necklace.

So there it is. I'm that guy. 

I will say, however, that I feel it is better to own hundreds of years of sterotypes than to fight them. In my experience it has started a lot of conversations that were useful in educating people about the true nature of us "dirty Pagans" when there is a familiar common ground. So take it how you will, hate it if you must, but don't dismiss a great guilty pleasure just because it makes you feel a little too guilty.

Halloween Economics: Scariest Numbers Around

By JOSH HERR, The Fiscal Times

October 27, 2011

Total American Halloween spending is estimated to hit $6.86 billion this year – making Halloween the second largest commercial holiday in the U.S. behind Christmas.  And while the holiday has always been about marketing, ghosts, zombies, vampires, witches and even pets dressed as Robin Hood will (rightly) take the spotlight.

As the early Catholic Church spread its teachings across a largely pagan Britain, it needed a hook to sell the populace. Incorporating rituals of Celtic end-of-summer festivals into a minor Christian holiday, the church created All Hallows Day (today called All Saints Day) and with it, All Hallows Eve, the night-before festivities in which the Celts were given license to exercise their pre-Christian urges. 

Later, poor Scottish and Irish children used the holiday as an excuse to go “souling,” or traveling door to door in costumes begging for food, in a manner similar to Christmas caroling of the time. In Victorian London, All-Hallows became an outlet for the frustrations of the working poor (take note, OWS protestors). But when those Scots and Irish came to the land of opportunity as immigrants, they brought their traditions with them – and Halloween as we know it began to take shape.

Wicca is America's fastest growing religion, says Witch School

Wicca is America's fastest growing religion, says Witch School:

'via Blog this'

Spray Cleaner Tutorial

Healing List for 10/27/11

Please send Reiki, prayers, or simply positive and healing thoughts to this list.

To include yourself or others on the list, simply post the names in the comments.

*****
The Hittson-Dean family who lost a loved one

Matt in Indy

Me, please, I am stressed out to my limit.

The Hubs, healing from a shoulder injury

Jerri in Elwood Heart and liver issues, recently recovering from a coma

Kathy E. in Summitville IN

The Edwards family

Sam, Jennifer,and the Finan family

Byron in Ft. Wayne

Gina in Indy

Hunter the cocker spaniel diagnosed with detatched retina

Gavi

The Monument Fire Pets and the efforts of volunteers to reunite pets and parents

Chris P. in Indiana, recovering from Spinal surgery 

Serena Weicht, Dorothy Heard, and family

Lauren Spierer, family, and all those searching for her

special note for the horses and dogs being used in the search

Tom, Joyce, Doris, Alverita, Chuy, Rose, and Bob and all those affected by the southern Arizona wildfires

 US "Darkhorse" 3rd Battalion 5th Marines and their families. They are fighting it out in Afghanistan and have lost 9 Marines in 4 days. 

Presented without comment...NSFW

Processing Pumpkins

We got exactly one pumpkin out of the two patches we planted, thanks to the squash bugs. We were pretty on top of it until our trip to Kansas, and they took those four days to complete the destruction. Our buddy Stubby saved the day by bringing over two sugar pie pumpkins from his garden. I processed them this morning and they are in the freezer, waiting to become yummy pumpkin pie next month!

 Cut each pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds. I kept about one half of one pumpkin worth of seeds for next year...and will hopefully not lose those pumpkins to squash bugs too.

 I roasted them for 45 minutes, cut sides down, at 400 degrees. This made the flesh soft enough that it fell right out of the skins, and got a little nice caramelization on the bottoms.

 I threw it all in the food processor, added two tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice, one for each pumpkin, and pureed it all up.

 The Hubs helped me bag it up, and it's all ready for me on Thanksgiving!

Potato Harvest

I spent a good chunk of the afternoon clearing out the garden today, and that included harvesting the purple potatoes I got from the neighbors in the spring.

 We got between 5-10 pounds, after I took out the little ones for seed potatoes. Not too bad since I got them totally free and pretty much threw them on the ground in the garden box, right on top of the grass, and pretty much ignored them till yesterday. I started to dig them up yesterday, but was interrupted by two stray dogs that the neighbor corralled in her back yard and I helped her get on leashes, then kept them in the grooming shop till the Humane officer and their owner came to get them back. So, I finished up today, actually got the grass and weeds out of the box, then reseeded it and moved my hoop house setup over that box. 

I am going to try to get/find/barter/buy some more Visqueen so I can hoop another box and try another March planting next year. If I can get it this week, I might even try for one more round of peas/lettuce/spinach under a hoop for the season. For now, the boxes are cleaned out, the composter is overflowing, and I am looking forward to purple mashed potatoes!

Extreme Couponing?

As I may have mentioned, my family is broke as a joke, and that was before the Hubs had his work accident and has been home for 2 weeks. I have been obsessed with the TLC show Extreme Couponing for a while now, but have been too overwhelmed to really get a start at it. Now I am so overwhelmed by the fact my slowly growing grooming business is our sole source of income that I feel like I HAVE TO start NOW so I can make sure I can feed us all and pay the bills. 

I really feel that each year we get a little more frugal, a little more self sufficient, but the reality is we kill ourselves to break even every month, which most people do, I know. I'm pretty sure we are all in the 99% around here. The bottom line is, I want to be working out of my home, homeschooling my kids, with the Hubs right there with me. I put in an application to go back to Petco in a moment of desperation this morning after learning we will, in fact, have to get a lawyer and fight for the Hubs workman comp claim. Not that Petco isn't a great place, I sure loved all the people I worked with, but it would kill me a little to go back to working for someone else again.

So, after 5 hours of lying in bed and crying (as I mentioned a few days ago, I am not exactly on firm mental and emotional ground) I got up, showered, dressed, and helped the Hubs on the several ideas we have in the works for work at home income and to get more business in the shop. We figure if we get enough little trickles of money coming in from places, it will fill the bucket as fast as a soul sucking job outside the house. 

Enter Extreme Couponing. I must figure it out. Now. Today. The freezer will be empty next week and I need to fill it up as cheaply as possible. So if anyone reading this has suggestions, tips, sites...anything PLEASE comment. I need all the help I can get.

Occupy Mordor

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/311041_10150353591712875_630742874_8236432_1182662968_n.jpg

Hobbits are the 99%

Pumpkin Masterpieces

I have been getting busier every month in my shop Lucky Dog Grooming and thought what better way to advertise on the cheap than with Lucky Dog jack-o-lanterns! I'm pretty proud, they were my first attempt at fancy pumpkin carving.

Profound Dark

I must admit, this latest bout with depression took me lower than I have ever been. I feel like all I have done in the past few months has been yell or cry. I got out of bed everyday, showered, dressed, took care of my kids and Dad, groomed dogs and went back to bed the second the Hubs came home from work. I couldn't even meditate, and every prayer became a sobbing mess.

With the help of my sweet husband, a new doctor, and a therapist, I feel like I am coming back to myself. I have been concentrating on my fiction writing projects in the last month, and it has given my the confidence to return to the blog. The Hubs and I even started a new blog and a YouTube channel about our geeky gaming interests. He is off work due to injuring his shoulder at work(which, by the way his boss it trying to deny his workmans comp. claim, even though there was a witness to the accident) and needed a project. Here are the links if you have interest in gaming. 

The Couple of Geeks blog

The Couple of Geeks YouTube Channel
If not, I hope to be back here more. I was in a dark, dark place and could not see or feel the Magick in my life, let alone write about it. I have a death grip on it now, and am hopefully am moving back to a place where I do not have to hold on so tightly.
Brightest Blessings