Friday, September 30, 2011

Meet Frank and Louie!


Frank and Louie, who just celebrated his 12th birthday on September 8th of this year, has recently made it into the 2012 Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest living Janus Cat. He is an exotic blue-eyed Rag Doll. He has two faces which makes him what is called a Janus Cat ~ named after the two-faced Roman God "Janus."
He was adopted by Marty Stevens, a Veterinary Nurse, as a kitten when he was brought into the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University by his breeder to be euthanized. She took him home and gave him the love and special care he needed, using feeding tubes to nurish him for the first three months of his life. He was not expected to live past four days and the experts told her not to get her hopes up. But they were wrong and he now lives the life of a very contentedly happy lap cat whose owner feels that "every day is kind of a blessing."

Congradulations to mommy and cat! May you both share many more happy years together!!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Autumn Crafts


Ahh, it's finally autumn ~ my favorite time of the year! After all, what's not to like, right ... the cooler, more comfortable weather after one of the most hot and humid summer's we have had around here in a long time and the naturally beautiful leaves on the trees as they change their color from green to the seasonal yellow, red and orange. Not to mention the anticipation of our next sabbat celebration and the third harvest of the year, Samhain!

One of the things I love the most about this season is decorating the house from top to bottom with lovely fall trimmings of handmade wreaths, ceramic statues, etc...

Of course, one can never have too many sabbat decorations and I have made it a tradition to add a little something new every year as to not get tired of the same old things. Besides, I really love how fresh and alive the house feels after I am finished!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Slowing Down & Taking Time

Perhaps it's just me, but lately I have been noticing something which, quite frankly, makes me a bit uneasy. Whether it is someome whom I know personally or someone whom I have come across while blogging, it would appear that rushing into ones' ambitions is the "in" thing.

I am speaking about the people who apparently believe that it is a good idea to go from a Reiki Level I to the title of a Reiki Master in less than two months or the people who think that reading a few books makes them an expert in any field (i.e. High Preist or Priestess, Pagan clergy member, etc.) with little or no time to gain any real experience. It is almost as if these titles are no more than a "notch in their belt" or something? (or perhaps even just a way to make what they think is"easy" money?)


For example, last year I had a student who literally begged me to take him on. I agreed, and it wasn't long before I realized that, for whatever the reason, he thought that I would teach him everything he wanted to know in just a couple of weeks. During the first week of his classes, he told me that his goal was to become a High Priest and by the end of the second week, he expressed his ambition of becoming a Reiki Master!  About a month later, he stopped attending classes all together because I refused to rush his studies and because of the fact that he did not have enough patience with himself or me to slow things down.

I am not at all suggesting that one should not  pursue what they honestly feel in their heart, I am merely saying that common sense tells us we must have a controlled balance between both knowledge and experience. Taking short cuts not only ensures that we are not performing to the best of our abilities, but it also essentially robs us of the true enjoyment of our experiences on our journey to get where we wish to be.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Trip to New Hope


Yesterday my hubby and I spent the entire day in New Hope, PA. While it was overcast, thankfully, it didn't rain.  We enjoyed shopping in our favorite stores and eating at our favorite places...


When we pulled into the parking lot, we were met by the Attendant and his cat, a pretty little tortoiseshell kitty whom he happened to be giving cat treats to as we came in.


The first place we stopped into was a Wiccan store called. "Mystickal Tymes." There, we were greeted by the owner's beautiful white cat, Morganna. I jokingly asked the owner if she was for sale to which he laughed and replied, "For a million dollars!"





I LOVE this store! You name it, they have it ~ gorgeous statues, assorted candles (including figure candles), incense, jewelry, herbs, gemstones, books, bags, altar cloths, oils, clothing, pendulums, tarot readings, and most importantly, my mermaids!



Next, we ate lunch at an Italian Restaurant with a Cabanna Bar called, "Fran's Pub." Afterwards, we hit another Wiccan supply store ~ "Gypsy Heaven" ...


One of the art stores we wondered into had a gorgeous Mermaid statue for $1,200.00. Needless to say, it is still on sale!


New Hope also has a mini mall called, "The Four Seasons" with all kinds of little specialty shoppes in it.


There is even the "Bucks County Playhouse" if you feel like taking in a show.


... finally, we decided to have dinner at a romantic little restaurant called, "Mothers" ~ a great place to eat if you like fine dining. We definately recommend it. We were told by an owner of one of the other shoppes that last week Bruce Springsteen came into town, stopped at Mothers for a beer and a shot and then took off on his motorcycle. Wow, I sure wish we could have been there then! How cool!


New Hope is so close to New Jersey that the Delaware County bridge is located a block away from the main street.


Now you can see why we love New Hope so much. It is a beautful non-commercial town with a lot to offer ~ food, entertainment, great specialty shoppes, etc. I can honestly say that we had a wonderful anniversary weekend indeed!




Friday, September 23, 2011

Mabon Blessings!


Mabon is not only the Autumn Equinox and a time of balance between light and dark, life and death and Goddess and God, but it is also a time for reflection and remembering all of the things in our life that we are thankful for.

I am very thankful for my close circle of family and friends for which I am forever blessed. I am indeed grateful for all of you whom I have been fortunate enough to have met and have gotten to know through the blog world ~ May you all have a very joyous and "thankful" Mabon!!!


(Photo credits: http://www.google.com/search?q=mabon+pics&hl=en&biw=1024&bih=588&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=CtR8TvLmA8PpgQeh7rVE&sqi=2&ved=0CB0QsAQ)

Friday, September 16, 2011

A Mabon Anniversary


As some of you may already know, my hubby and I have our wedding anniversary coming up next week. I can't believe it has been 10 years already since we "tied the knot" in a legal Pagan Handfasting ceremony held outside in our backyard on Mabon/Autumn Equinox.


Believe it or not, we actually didn't plan it that way. It just so happened that we wanted to get married on "a" Saturday in September because of the beautiful weather and the only weekend our High Priestess friend was available to officiate for us was on Mabon!

Our engraved Handfasting chalice which says, "Brett & Kim/Mabon 9/22/01"

Originally, we were planning on having a Renewal of Vows ceremony this year, but due to some unforeseen circumstances, we will have to plan for next year instead. But it's okay, we have already decided we are going to spend a couple of days in one of our favorite places ~ New Hope, PA.

On our first wedding anniversary, we stayed at a beautiful place called, "Motel in the Woods," a quaint little bed and breakfast located along the main strip heading into the village of New Hope shoppes. We thought it would be great to stay there again ...

Little "fireplace" in our room

View from our back door

Posing with the mermaid outside

Since, obviously, I will be away from home, I will be celebrating the sabbat of Mabon the night before we leave on Mabon eve. I have decorated my altar with the usual items ~ in honor of our deities, apples (symbolizing the Goddess) and acorns (to symbolize the God), candles, seasonal incense and oils, etc.

I will also be on vacation all next week and will have lots of things to do. So, in advance, I am wishing everyone a very Blessed Mabon from us to all of you!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

A New Day?


This pic was taken this afternoon outside of our home. A beautiful rainbow after two weeks of rain and terrible flooding. Many people in our area have lost their homes and the weather has caused much destruction to businesses as well with dams overflowing and main streets literally drowning in the rain!

Still, after all of this, we have finally had a gorgeous day and a huge rainbow to; hopefully, put an end to all the bad stuff.

Just because I like it ...




I was adding a few songs to my Playlist on my blog and I came across a video of one of my favorite groups, "Collective Soul." I have always been a fan of acoustic music and I  have always loved their song, "The World I Know." For some reason, I was really captivated by this particular vid which was taped live in the streets of Morocco. I hope you enjoy it, too! Happy Saturday!!!

Thursday, September 08, 2011

Ignorance is bliss

Ignorance is bliss and, my friends, have we got a lot of "blissful" people out there! Upon reading Diandra's lastest post from her blog, "That Witch Is True," I have decided to re-post this particular post about the ignorance of religious intolerance. I, personally, have not as of yet received any "nasty" little comments or e-mails about my blog or my posts; however unfortunately, some other Wiccans/Pagans in our community have. In my view, this is simply unacceptable although not surprising. Anyway, her post is as follows:


I just got my first Christian hate mail

(The stupid thing is, I do not remember exactly why I got it. Wait, I will just post it:

"My fault pagan, I didn't notice the "Calvinist" perspective comment was still on my blog description. It doesn't seen you noticed either to me though, you should have just pointed that out. It was in very small lettering. Also it's very hard to find that setting in wordpress, and when you are bogged down all the time with all kinds of Hell, like I am, you don't always notice those little things. So, sorry for the insults on that. Why did you put fundamentalist Christianity on your last blog post, this one, and not point out the history of pagans?: Pagans are known for being cold blooded sexually immoral murderers of their own children: https://eternian.wordpress.com/category/ancient-egypt/
In Europe that was severely curtailed by Reformed Christians.And in Asia and India female infanticide continues by the Hindus and those with folk religions. You conveniently, in your bias, overlook these long known facts.

If the evil Catholics hadn't beaten and converted the majority of pagans, that child prostitution, child slavery and female infanticide, and money-hoarding would still be going on.

Also, not all children who are hit by their parents will think it is okay, it depends what else they learn in their lives."

http://eternian.wordpress.com

I remember reading and commenting on something about beating children some time ago, but I am almost sure it was not on a Christian blog - how would I get there in the first place? I mean, I do read a few blogs which are written by Christians, but they usually do not touch the subject of faith, because I am fairly sure that would lead to unpleasant comments from both sides and might cause me an aneurism.

This e-mail confused me. It did not upset me, strange enough, and I also have to admit I find it rather amusing.

My (Diandra's )response was as follows:


"Good morning, Mr. Knight,

I am sorry but I think you confuse me with someone. I thought very hard about it for approx. 30 seconds, and I do not think I have ever visited your blog, nor would I take the energy to read or comment on a Christian blog - simply because in most cases it would lead to less-than-friendly exchanges of opinions without anyone benefiting from the incident. In my experience, some religions do not get along as well as others, and while I do have a series of Christian as well as Muslim friends who have simply accepted that, although my soul is (in their opinion) damned, I am still a rather pleasant being. ^^

In my opinion, neither Pagans nor Catholics nor, for that matter, Calvinists are evil per se. It usually depends on the person and their ability (or inability) to connect with others. It is easily possible for someone to be a Pagan and yet be someone I do not like, just as I highly value several people who do not share my faith, just for them being decent humans.

And, just for the records - yes, I do have sex, and I have never killed any children.

Kind regards,
Diandra Linnemann")



Hmm, I repeat, ignorance IS bliss. Of course, all this man need do is take a good, long, hard look into the history of "his" religion (or atleast get the facts about the history of Paganism right)! Though I must say that I really love her response! ;)

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Animal Quote


"Until one has loved an animal, a part of their soul remains unawakened."

~ Anatole France


Monday, September 05, 2011

My idea of Labor Day

For most people I know, the ideal Labor Day is spent outdoors (or in if it is raining outside) having a cook-out ~ barbequing or grilling steaks, chicken, hamburgers or hot dogs. For me however, it was spent quite differently.


It started late last night when we noticed that our cat, Midnight, began hobbling around ~ something he usually does when he is constipated (in spite of the fact that he gets the best Vet recommended kitty food money can buy). So at about 11:30PM, I ran out to Redner's Markets (open 24-7) and picked up a few small canisters of his favorite wet cat food, "Fresh Pet Select." This is actually found in a small refrigerator at the end of the Pet Food and Supply isle of the store. It is all natural and has plenty of gravy so that I can mix some Metamucil in with it for Midnight's "potty" problem.

Of course, you can't just give the yummy stuff to one cat without giving a little to the other!

Then, early this afternoon I drove to my parents house to pick up my dad and bring him back to my Reiki Room for his weekly/bi-weekly Reiki treatment. Since he has developed such bad depression lately, his medical condition has gotten much worse. Sometimes I truly believe that the medical field has gotten it all backwards. Perhaps they should be focusing on our mental/psychological health first and foremost, then our physical issues. Afterall, if our mind/brain is not functioning correctly, how is the rest of our body expected to?


Anyway, I am only more than happy to help him in any possible way that I can. My only real obstacle is being mindeful of his pace-maker. I have to be very careful as to not lay my hands on or near it since it is an electrical device. He is very open-minded and during today's session, he said to me, "This is an exchange of engeries, right?" I smiled and replied, "Yes, it certainly is!" while thinking to myself, "Great! He actually GETS it!" 

He knows that his Reiki sessions are not intended as a "cure all" and that they are given in addition to his regular meds dispursed by his doctor/specialist; however, it will certainly help alleviate much of his pain and discomfort as well as his depression and he really enjoys the good way the sessions always make him feel afterwards. And for us, that makes it all worth it! 

Saturday, September 03, 2011

Virtual Tour ... so far

Although my husband and I live in a fairly small, quaint little house, our cellar is huge! It is separated by a wall down the middle with two door openings, leaving us four separate rooms in which to utilize. This feature and the enclosed porch were actually the selling points for us.

The problem with the cellar is that there is no running water, except for the washing machine, and the walls desperately need to be panelled if at all possible (perhaps a trip to Home Depot is in our near future). The biggest room is our laundry room, one room is used as my husband's Game room, one is for my Altar room and the other my Reiki room.


Some pics from the altar room ...
I  also keep all my Wicca supplies~books, candles ...

... and do all of my tarot readings in this room 

These are my educational tapes and DVD's for my Wicca Classes

And my Reiki Room (currently) ...

Reiki Bed

My altar

TV with DVD/VHS player set up for Wicca classes, etc.

Videos for Reiki Attunements

Blankets for Reiki clients, if needed

Front view,  where you can see one of the open doorways

View from the Game Room

As you can see, the cellar still needs much work, but for the time being it is fully functional and serves the purpose well.