Fun Friday ~ "Safety Dance"

LOVE this Renaissance video the 80's group, "Men Without Hats" used for their hit song "Safety Dance!"

Have an awesome weekend everyone!!!

A Wiccan Blessing

May the loving protection of the Lord embrace you

 May the light of the Lady shine upon you;

Because love is a light to guide you

And love is a blanket to warm you

And love is a wonder given to you

To cherish and hold forever dear

~ author unknown

Animal House

For the next week I will be cat-sitting Niecy. Niecy belongs to my friend Britnee's daughter Kylie. Niecy's family will be leaving for their yearly trip to Florida and so I am watching her just as I did last year.

My friend and Reiki client, Britnee

She is a cute little gray and white tabby cat and an absolute delight! She's also very familiar with me since I have visited her home on many an occasion. She always runs right up to me and sits on my lap!

I have a huge dog cage set up downstairs aside of my Reiki Room for her which is big enough to hold a regular size litter box, a food dish, water bowl, large blanket to keep her warm and her toys from home.


About an hour after my friend dropped her off at my home, I received a phone call from Kylie asking me how her kitty is doing and she thanked me for her candles (she just loves candles so much that I sent a couple of votives along home for my friend to give to her). Kylie is such a great little girl!

Kylie, Niecy's "mommy"

I also thought I'd add a pic of my favorite kitty cat Midnight keeping his buddy Sam company. He does this almost every day!



Yep, that's right. Just call me "crazy cat lady"! LOL!!!

Dreams ...

Has anyone ever had a premonition or an answer to a question appear to you in the form of a dream? I have, many, many times over. Strange, but none-the-less true!

I actually keep a dream journal beside my bed and have for years. I have found that it really helps since dreams seem to have a very short life span and by the time you wake up in the morning, chances are you will have forgotten much of what you have dreamed. 

For example, the following is an excerpt from my dream journal which is just a mere sample of what my dreams are like:

October 26, 2002 ~ "Last night, I dreamt that I was in bed and heard a knock at the door. When I answered the door, there was a woman standing there. She approached me and told me that her name was "Maria" and that she was seeing my husband! I got upset as she insisted that she was sleeping with him and I kept telling her that I knew that he wasn't and that I was the one who was married to him ~ not her!"

After I woke up and had written all of this down in my journal, I told Brett about my dream and asked him if he knew of a woman named "Maria"? His answer ~ he explained to me that he used to date a girl named Maria in High School and that she was actually his first girlfriend.

Now, keep in mind that my husband had never mentioned her  to me before ~ ever!!!  Pretty weird, right? I thought so. But, my intuitions seem to come to me in dream form a lot.

Another example is when I dreamt that my former boss appoached me at my desk just as I was getting ready to start work. She asked if she could speak to me in the conference room. I went. And just before I found out what she wanted with me, I woke up! Sure enough, I went into work that morning and low and behold, my former boss really did come up to me and ask to see me in the conference room! I must have had the most shocked look on my face, honestly! What could she have wanted? Was I going to get fired through her or something?

Luckily, it turned out that she had called me in to ask me to return to my previous job with her as my boss again. She told me that she really needed me to come back as the work load had gotten so out of hand and would I help her? I was thrilled to say the least as she was the best boss I had ever had and that's the truth. I then explained to her about my dream and she replied, "Well, you know what they say about karma?" I just smiled.

Night visions are common for me and I have grown used to them over these many years. I try not to fear them as I really have no control over the matter. And I suppose that it may be a sort of blessing from the Goddess.

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To Mom, With Love

Yesterday, hubby and I sent a bouquet of beautiful Spring flowers to my mother-in-law as a way of saying, "thank you" to her and to show our appreciation for everything she has done for us. After all, we did borrow her car for almost a month ~ it was the very least we could do, right? LOL!!!

Along with the flowers, we attached a balloon with a little card which said, "Thanks, mom! We love you, Brett & Kim."

Needless to say, she loved them! This, of course, made us extremely happy ... thanks again for everything you do, Mom!

Brightest Blessings all!!

Now, that's what I'm talking about ...

This morning I was playing catch up with the blogs which I usually follow. One of my favorite blogs is Pagan Culture and upon reading Magaly's latest post, "Witch Is Such a Nasty Word," I felt extremely compelled to share it here on The Wiccan Life. Her post talks about her most recent experience with religious discrimination, and,  a subject which I personally have dealt with my entire life as a witch. Now, keep in mind that while I am a strong advocate of religious tolerance, this is a subject which must go both ways or else it is  pretty much a pointless effort at best. Besides, I am a true believer in "practicing what I preach" so to speak.

I love her post and applaud her for her integrity and truth. I would just like to say, "Thank you, Magaly from the bottom of my heart, dear sister!"  Blessed Be!!!

Fun Friday! ~ The Goddess Chant

Goddess Chant

 

 

Isis,

 Astarte,

 Diana,

Hecate,

Demeter,

 Kali,

 Inanna

A little of this and a little of that ...

Hope everyone had a wonderful Ostara full of beautiful Spring weather! We had a lovely, breezy day in the 70's ~ just gorgeous really.

 After I came home from work yesterday, I left our Dwarf Bunny, Sam, out for his usual run around the house. When we first began leaving him out of his cage, the cats were actually scared of him ~ keeping a very safe distance between them and him ...

Midnight and Haley watching him in the living room from afar

Sam likes to "chin" our furniture (mark his scent using the scent glands on the side of his mouth)

 

Now however, though still more curious than anything else, they will get fairly close to him ...

Midnight keeping a close eye on him while lying on the bed

"Hey, whatcha doin' over there, fella?"

On a different note, I finally found another car. It is a 2009, 4-door Honda Civic with a Sun/Moon roof.  So far, I just LOVE IT!  It rides even smoother than the Kia did and it is a beautiful Burgundy color. Keeping my fingers crossed ...

Well, that is about all for now, my friends. Catch ya'll later ~

Brightest Blessings!!!



Duchesnay & Duchesnay ~ "West Side Story"

The other day I had written a post about my passion for Figure Skating. Well, to be honest, Ice Dancing had never really been my favorite part of this sport. I pretty much always thought that it was the "boring, but pretty" part. But, after watching the French Ice Dance Pair of brother and sister team Paul & Isabelle Duchesnay, (they used to represent Canada at one time in the Olympic Games),  I totally took that attitude back!

This pair was coached by Choreographer (and then Isabelle's hubby) Christopher Dean who had been the other half of the British Pair of Torvil and Dean. This clip from the 1992 Albertville Olympics shows The Duchesnay's Silver Metal winner performance to "West Side Story" as they skated the most athletic performance I had ever seen in an Ice Dance Team. Isabelle, by the way, was skating with a 104 temperature and had the flu while still pulling off a perfect skate!! My favorite part is their last move ~ very dangerous trick and Isabelle actually had to wear a helmet during their practice sessions! When you watch it, you will understand just why!!!!

The Duchesnay's 1990 World Figure Skating performance to "Missing" (beautiful music)

http://youtu.be/coM4d1CQZfs

These two are, hands down, my all-time favorite Ice Dance Pair!! Besides ladies, doesn't Paul have a cute little tush? LOL!!!

I hope you all enjoy!!!

Blessings,

Kim

Joyous Ostara!!

May the Blessings of Ostara be yours! Wishing everyone a very joyous Spring!!!

(image credit)

The Cat and the Crow

The Cat and the Crow

The cat and the crow,

Both friend and foe;

Sit idly by

While the cold winds blow

The cat ~ she is stealth,

cunning and wise;

The crow ~ he's so dignified

With pale blue eyes

She's truly his friend,

Though she'd never dare say;

But he cares not why,

As he bids her good day

He waits near the tree

Where beneath she does lie

Protecting her soul,

Should she ever die

This poem is in rememberance of my dear friend, "Blue" who helped brighten my days with his sweet soul. I know that he is still with us all in spirit ~ watching over us each and every day!

(image credit)



Mythos

Mythos

Long ago in a land far away,
When the world held magick anew
The Ancient Ones came,
They had many a name
Such as Brigit, Eostre and Lugh

The Celts' had The Dagda,
Great Father God to them all
The giver of life was he,
and a warrior, you see
The Morrigan was his lover I recall

The Great Greeks had Zeus and Hera,
A match made in heaven - it was not
Many mistresses had he,
and there's Heras' jealousy
Causing many a disastrous a plot

Remember the ancient Egyptians,
Who worshipped Ra and Isis
Great Mother to all was she,
Her consort Ra, the sun deity
With kin such as Anubis and Osiris

 Let's not forget the Romans,
With their tales of romance and woe
their deities of war and love,
were sent by Mithra above
Such as Mars, Venus and Juno

Since the beginning of time,
Before man walked the Earth
From Odin to Zeus and Eros,
The Old Ones taught us all
Lessons of life through rise and fall
With a creation of stories we call Mythos

~ Lady Caer Morganna

(1999)

(images credits)

Skating Fever

Ever since I was a small child, my entire family had always been avid fans of figure skating. As far back as I can remember, I used to sit around the living room television with my folks ~ my eyes glued while watching the Winter Olympic Games. My oldest memory is from 1976 (I was in sixth grade then) when  Dorothy Hamill won her Gold Metal and, of course, I also remember the British Ice Dance pair of Torvil and Dean as they awed everyone with their legendary 6.0 Free Skate to the music of "Bolero."

My mom and I always watch Figure Skating every chance we get and always wished that someday we could actually see a skating competition live ~ holding our breath as our favorite skaters performed their athletic jumps and spins. And so in October of 2007, we had finally gotten that opportunity as Skate America (an important International Skating competition) was held in our home town of Reading, PA.

I bought tickets for both my mom and myself and my mother-in-law who also really enjoys Figure Skatng. It was sort of a "girls night out" kinda thing.  It was far cooler than I had ever imaged as we walked through the stadium hallways listening to people speak their native languages of Japanese, Chinese, Russian, etc. It was like having the United Nations right here in the City of Reading!  Very cool!!

As we took our seats, to the left of us was Scotty Hamilton and Sandra Bezic commentating as we watched the skaters take their practice runs before taking the ice. We saw some really great performances from skaters such as American Champion Kimmie Meissner, Evan Lysacek who later went on to become the 2010 Oympic Men's Gold Metalist, Emily Hughes, World Champion Daisuke Takahashi from Japan, Canadian Ice Pair Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, American Olympic Ice Dance Silver Metalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White, Olympic American Ice Dance Champions Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, and so on ...

Kimmie Meissner had a flawless performance

Chinese Pair Team of Xiaoyang & Chen Wang

But I think the most exciting part of our evening was when Evan Lysacek landed his Quad Toe-Loop and continued to have a perfectly flawless performance as we all stood up and screamed at the top of our lungs, "YEAH! WHOO HOO! YEAH!!!" LOL!!

Of course, I had to pick up a little souvenir of this memorable occasion ...

I bought a Skate America Bear with commemorating pin and a huge color program for each of us. I remember my mom was so ecstatic to be there that at one point she looked over at me and said, "Kim, you did good!!!"

Afterwards, we all went out for a late dinner at Ruby Tuesday's and had a great time doing a bit of "family bonding."

(Just an aside ~ don't you think that my friend Willow's hubby, Sean,  resembles Ben Agosto??) ...

Me posing with Sean in 1998 (one of my fav pics of us)

Ice Dance Figure Skating Olympian Ben Agosto

Hmmm, what do you think, Willow???

What's in a Holiday?: St. Patrick's Day

What does Wicca have to do with St. Patrick's Day? There are some Celtic-Irish Wiccans who may be opposed to St. Patrick's Day as it may be seen by some as a day of celebrating Pagan oppression by the Christian faith. St. Patrick is the man whom many Christians give credit to for converting the ancient Irish Pagans. However, the truth is that converstion of Medieval Pagan populations to Christianity was never a sudden and complete transformation. In most cases, local folks were so deeply connected to their ancestral beliefs and deities that the Christians had to adapt their teachings to better fit Pagan traditions.

In Ireland, Pagans worshipped many different pantheons of Celtic deities - above all, the Devine Triple Goddess representing love, fertility and wisdom (Maiden, Mother & Crone). Although it is said that St. Patrick attempted to convert Pagans by showing the three leaves of the clover to them explaining the Christian Trinity and therefore making it the symbol of Ireland, the clover originally was (and still is) very much an ancient symbol of The Triple Goddess.

Even though today some Wiccans oppose St. Patrick's Day, there are still others who actually enjoy the celebration because they know of its' "hidden" meaning and perhaps may smile at the thought of devout Christians wearing a symbol of the Goddess. (I am one of them!)

It is important for us, as Wiccans, to remember that a majority of the contemporary holidays which we as Amercians celebrate today, including St. Valentine's Day which began as the Roman Pagan festival of Lupercalia, have their roots set in Paganism.

Here's wishing everyone a very Happy St. Patrick's Day and May the Luck o' the Irish be with thee!!

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Fun Friday!!

Thought it would be fun to post a little clip in honor of the late Davy Jones "monkee-ing around" on stage (and showing his sense of humor) from their 60's television show, "The Monkees." The song ~ "Door Into Summer."

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!!!!

The value of a comment

Those of us who have blogs know how much it means when our blogger friends take the time and care enough to leave a comment or two on our blog posts ~ and of course I am no exception.

But as wonderful as receiving comments from others is, for me, there is an even more important reason why I like comments so much. That reason is the fact that communicating through our post comments often gives us the ability to correspond on a more personal level with one another.

I have noticed lately that many of my blog friends also hold little conversations back and forth through their blog comments. It's a great way to form friendships with our peers even if we never do get the opportunity to actually meet them face to face. Most especially with our friends who happen to be very shy or tend to have a difficult time meeting other people of like minds and interests.

Communicating with our fellow bloggers can also give us an appreciation for others who may even be a little different from ourselves. A kind of diversity of sorts among us all in Blogland.

"To me, diversity is inclusive of everyone, it is about learning from others who are not the same, and about dignity and respect for everyone."

~ Donna Garman

I have learned quite a bit from my blogger friends about so many different things. I have found much love, caring and support from others whom I have met through their blogs and that is where many of our friendships begin here.  And, I am indeed grateful to have had the chance to know them all!

Earth Sisters

Earth Sisters

In fate they so did meet
In friendship they so stayed
Neither realized the kind of bond
That yet was to be made

Willow, the bolder Aries,
And Kim with Pisces eyes
Both are kind and caring,
Free spirited and wise

As years went by so quickly
Their lives seemed such a mess
Always striving to move forward
But growing so restless

Until one day they finally found
A love they both could share
In the precious Lord and Lady
Who are always everywhere

They chose their craft names wisely
One Rhiannon, one Caer
And thus respect natures’ powers
Of Fire, Water, Earth and Air

They worship now in perfect trust
As they give back to the Earth
And where they once felt unalive,
They now can feel rebirth

So with each passing day
Their sisterhood grows strong
As does their love of music
Which they share in dance and song

They know someday the time will come
The question is not where but when
As Merry Meet, merry part
And Merry they'll meet again

~ Lady Caer Morganna
(1998)

If it seems too good to be true ...

Remember that old saying, "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is"? Well, let's just say that I should have known better...

Now, do you remember the new used 2008 Kia Spectra XS that hubby and I had just purchased last Wednesday night? Well, upon further inspection in the daylight (as we were only able to look at the car after we both had gotten home from work which by that time it is dark out) hubby noticed that something wasn't right under the front end and under the hood. Apparently, this particular car was in a bad collision and the "one owner" had the front end replaced, very, very poorly I might add! And, this was never reported on the Car Fax either!

There seems to be bolts missing from the front end which you can only see if you pop the hood and some part of sorts which "used" to be there and is also missing. What???

Needless to say, we had our mechanic look at it and he sugguested that we take it back to the dealer from whom we bought it and show them the problem.

So now we must either A) try to get our money back for which they are not obligated to do, or B) get the car to a Kia dealer and hope for the best. Have I told you how much I HATE dealing with cars? In my opinion, they are and have always been the biggest (if you'll kindly pardon my expression) pain in the ass there is in life! Atleast for me anyhow. But, what are you going to do, right??? Having a car is a must.

Well, thanks for allowing me to rant, my friends! LOL

Painted Leaves

Yesterday after posting my Spring poem, "Eostre" for our up-coming celebration of Ostara here in the Northern Hemishpere, I was asked by my dear friend and long-time blogger buddy Leanne if I had any original poetry for Mabon?

Leanne lives in New Zealand which is the Southern Hemisphere where our fellow Wiccan friends are getting ready to celebrate Mabon/ The Autumn Equinox as we are preparing for Spring. She is a lovely gal with her awesome blog,, "Cottage Tails" and someone  whom I have been lucky enough to call a friend.

So this poem titled, "Painted Leaves" is for Leanne and all of my other Wiccan friends who are celebrating the Autumn Equinox.

Have a very Blessed Mabon all and I hope you enjoy the poem!

 

Painted Leaves

Colored bed beneath my feet,

The crisp, fresh air grows cool;

Painted leaves adorn the Earth,

All under Modron's rule

Aging Goddess; powerful, wise

Autumn's picture, Nature's guise

Celebration of beauty,

 the wheel turns on;

With painted leaves ~

'tis Blessed Mabon!

~ Lady Caer Morganna

image credit