Blessed Samhain ~ 2017

Blessed Samhain and a Happy Halloween to everyone! Today, I enjoyed this wonderful sabbat holiday by celebrating with my sister, Aurora Skye (Robin) and Dark Elf.

As is our tradition, we set up a special altar for our photos in honor of our loved ones who have passed on ...  

 )o(     )o(     )o(     )o(     )o(     )o(     )o(     )o(

Me 'n' Aurora Skye

Dark Elf

Our personal ritual ceremony written for us. ;)

After our ritual rite, we toasted with our libation which I had reiked and blessed, then spent the rest of the evening enjoying some relaxing "sister" time. These, my dear friends, are truly special occasions for both of us. In this fast-paced and very busy day and age where we all must set aside time for ourselves and our loved ones, it is even more important that we remember our beloved friends and family ... both those who are living and who have passed from this world.

Samhain

Gather we here on Samhain eve
Some to remember, some to grieve
All to join with hand and heart
To see the misty veil part
Stand we here, hand to hand
While spirits roam across the land
Ash to ash, bone to bone
They rise from earth, from sea and stone
Seek their wisdom in the wind
Through curls of smoke, our love we send
And on this night of falling leaves
Gather we here on Samhain eve
We raise a glass
We toast you all
Our Ancestors
From king to thrall
We welcome you
This Samhain night
Come warm yourselves
By firelight
Come join our merry
Feast of Red
We hail you,
The Welcome Dead!

~ written by Sokarjo Stormwillow

A new virus and a network disruption.

A new very dangerous virus is spreading in the East. Even Russian Airports were shut down by it. The virus is "Bad Rabbit" and it is a ransom virus. It stops your computer until you pay. I have reasons to believe this is the cause of some Facebook problems as well Google problems which has affected many blogs recently.

Fun Friday!

Happy Friday all! We are getting closer to the holidays and I will be celebrating Samhain with my sister, Aurora Skye, once again this year. We will be getting together on Sunday evening as she must start work early during week days. Last weekend, we went  shopping all day and frequented one of our favorite "haunts", the local Barnes & Noble bookstore where I found these cool magazines ...

Yes, I am definitely a big fan of the show, "Supernatural" and I absolutely adore Misha Collins ("Castiel") featured on the cover of this weeks' Special Edition of "Entertainment" magazine.

Here's wishing everyone a weekend full of fun and magick!!

Sunday odds 'n' ends ...

Happy Sunday everyone! Today is officially the last day of my vacation off from work. I plan to spend it with my sister Robin and Dark Elf. I am also getting ready for our Samhain celebration. As you can see from the above pic, I bought some small pumpkins for our altar.

Yesterday I spent the day with my mom and she gave me a few vintage Halloween decorations which she found up in the attic from when I was just a kid. I really love these ...

She also found a couple of my dad's old Army pics from when he was stationed in Italy. I plan on using these pics to display next to our altar for this year's Samhain ...

Miss you each and every day, dad!

>^^<    >^^<    >^^<    >^^<    >^^<    >^^<    >^^<

Until next time, Brightest Blessings all!! 

This 'n' That, the winner of the fall wreath and a little surprise ...

Greetings friends! Well, it has been quite a busy week off and this weekend is going to be busy as well. Last night I had my monthly get-together with my friend, Kiki. We enjoyed a nice little dinner at a local place called, "Ganly's Pub." I had a yummy PA Dutch favorite treat ...

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie made with square dough, diced potatoes and chicken, parsley in a thick broth. Delicious!

And, Kiki surprised me with a beautiful little cast iron mermaid  which I immediately hung up in my bathroom ...

And also unbeknownst to my friend, I gave her a little something as well to add to her rooster-themed kitchen that I happened to find at the Hay Creek Apple Fest last weekend. It is a rooster hand towel and matching pot holder set. She sent me this pic of it just today ...

)o(     )o(     )o(     )o(     )o(     )o(     )o(

Now, to announce the winner of the fall wreath is my little Kiki cat ... Okay, close yours eyes and pic a name out of the ceramic pumpkin dish ...

And the winner is ...

"Incipient Wings!"

Oh yes now for the little surprise, I have decided to add a little extra gift to the drawing. It is a black cat and pumpkin figurine. And so, I asked Kiki to pick yet one more name from the pumpkin dish ...

This winner of this little prize is CJ Kennedy from the blog "CJ & Ink"! :)

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who participated! I may also have another giveaway around winter with a couple of different prizes so I will keep you all posted closer to the time.

As per usual, the winners must e-mail me their addresses at Ladycaer1964@yahoo.com  in which to mail their gift (ALL addresses are confidential and will be kept private!) and will also need to contact me within three business days to claim their prize (in other words, by Wednesday the 25th please). If your prize is not claimed, another name will be picked unless otherwise informed. As always, I will also attempt to contact the winners via a comment on their blogs as well. :)

Again, thanks to everyone and have a Blessed weekend all!!

Samhain

Samhain is known by most folks as Halloween, but for many modern Pagans it's considered a Sabbat to honor the ancestors who came before us, marking the dark time of the year. It's a good time to contact the spirit world because it's the time when the veil between this world and the next is at its thinnest.

Sunset on Samhain is the beginning of the Celtic New Year. The old year has passed, the harvest has been gathered, cattle and sheep have been brought in from the fields, and the leaves have fallen from the trees. The earth slowly begins to die around us.

It is a good time to think about death that - for the time - is a natural reality and to remember deceased family members. I, personally,  don't use the Ouija Board because I believe that we never know who's really is on the side of the "line".

Recent scientific works pointed out that consciousness is created within the biological body from it's own separate particles that are complementary to mass, in the same way that magnetism is complementary to electric charge. The only thing that remains is to find a way of interaction so that we can "see" these particles in order to photograph our soul.

Our inability to "see" these particles creates the so called "veil". If we try to see through a surface to somewhere that is unseen the effect is a blackness on that surface like the event horizon of a black hole. If this separating surface emits a faint light for some reason the effect is the so called "veil". "Veiled" ghosts are a similar effect, an unseen entity with a faintly radiating surface. Black shadows are unseen entities without the radiating surface. The veil is not normally seen by all people at all times because it is in other dimensions than the three normal.

The spirits of our ancestors live on after their death in other dimension, but otherwise near our own world. That will soon be proved. The belief that the veil gets thinner or thicker is still a religious belief for the time being.

I personally used to think that the period between Samhain and Imbolc is the cold part of the year and since I hate cold, I tend to lock myself inside...

Throwback Thursday

This was a pic from October 2010 of my co-worker and I dressed up as a surgeon and a nurse at work for a Halloween Costume contest. LOL!!

Anyone remember these growing up?

HAPPY THURSDAY, MY FRIENDS!

Some Hay Creek Festival treasures ~ 2017

Joanna Furnace/Hay Creek Valley Historical Association

Yesterday was the Hay Creek Festival at Joanna Furnace & Hay Creek Historical Society. I try to attend this event every year because it is so much FUN! It is a non-profit organization and there is no price for admission. However, I always make sure to give a donation to the parking attendant. I would truly hate to see this place go away. They have three major yearly events: The Hay Creek Festival with craft shows featuring all kinds of cool exhibitions, The Hay Creek Apple Festival with great homemade foods and desserts along with a flea market full of holiday crafts and so forth and the third event is "Christmas at Joanna."

Here are just a few of the awesome treasures I found yesterday ...

Large ceramic Pumpkin candy dish with vintage candy bags - $1.00

$5.00 (old cat painting, framed and in great condition)

Holiday tissue box covers - $3.00

$1.00 (with battery operated light to use inside)

Crocheted top holiday hand towels - $3.50

Hanging sound motion door decoration - $2.00

$1.00

Handmade glass black cat choker -$6.00

They actually cook the soups fresh right where the food stands are in these HUGE black cast iron cauldrons and the sell them by the bowl and by the container ...

Homemade chicken noodle soup and ham and bean soup

I love the fall season because there is so much to see and do at this time of the year and ... this place is one of my favorite places to go!

Brightest Blessings all!