A Weekend of Magick

It was a weekend full of magick! Beginning with Saturday night's breath-taking "Super" Full Moon ...

... and continuing with our Ostara celebration on Sunday. As you know, I decided to celebrate with Lady Sabrina Rhiannon's group, "The Coven of the Silver Moon Circle" in their Ostara ritual this year. Of course, I still performed my own little solitary ritual earlier that day as well - afterall, I am still a Solitary at heart (lol)!

"The Gang" - Laura, Lady Sabrina Rhiannon, Deb, Sara, me, Melissa & Robin

 Joining us was my sister Robin (Aurora Skye) and her husband Jim. My husband also came along but prefers just to watch and observe everything. He is an Agnostic, but he has always supported me and my decision to become Wiccan.

We all had a great time both during and after the ceremony as we reconnected with Nature and eachother. I haven't seen my friends from Lady Sabrina Rhiannon's coven since last May at Beltane. I love getting together with them as they are such an awesome group of gals! As with my own group, The Old Path Enlightener's Circle, everyone contributes something to the ritual whether it's helping with the calling of the corners or volunteering in a special planned ritual activity. I am usually asked to assist Lady Sabrina Rhiannon with invoking the Goddess and God and the symbolic Great Rite - which I am always more than happy to do!

Our Ostara Altar and cauldron with tea lights - symbolizing the Goddess turning  the Wheel of the Year back to Spring.

     Posing with my sister Robin

Thoughtful gifts for all from Lady Sabrina Rhiannon and Sara for Ostara!

     Delicious food and refreshments!

After a few hours of fun and chit-chat, it was time to go home and get some rest for Monday to start the work week all over again. Hope everyone had a Blessed Ostara!

A Wonderful Day at the Faire

My husband and I had an awesome day today at The Life Celebration & Holistic Faire 2011 in Reading, PA with my dearest friends and Wiccan family Rhiannon, Draco and their son, Richard.

The Faire is held every year and has so many great things to offer! You may have Reiki performed, cleansing & balancing, aura photography and readings, tarot  & psychic readings, and there are a number of places you can buy crystals of all kinds, herbs, candles, books, you name it!

Of course I couldn't resist getting my aura read as I do every year.  Lucy, the Aura Reader, hooks you up to an electric aura machine that takes your picture and prints out your reading at the same time and then she sits down with you afterward to go over everything. She looked at all of the yellow and orange in my aura and said, "You're reiki, aren't you?" because of all the reiki energy I was radiating. I just had to smile and reply, "Yup, I am!"

Richard's Aura pic

 I also bought a couple of other items as well. Since I am working on revamping my Reiki Room, I picked up an adorable Maneki Neko to place on the Reiki Altar. Maneki Neko literally means, "beckoning cat" in Japanese.

Because I am "mad about mermaids," I decided to buy this really cool mermaid box. When it comes to mermaids, "You name it, I got it!" 

And last but not least, I bought yet another item this year for my Ostara altar. A lovely statue of the Goddess Eostre ...

Rhiannon and Richard also had their auras read and Draco picked up a beautiful Bloodstone pendulum that was just calling his name! Overall, great day!

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.

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day

As some of you may already know from reading my Facebook page, I have been working for The Travelers Insurance Company for almost 7 years now. Today, there was a post about St. Patrick's Day fun facts on our website from our Travelers office in Ireland.

We all know that St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17th, which is believed to be the day St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, died in 461 A.D. But did you know that as early as the 1600's, March 17th was a religious holiday? That St. Patrick's Day didn't become an official public holiday in Ireland until 1903? And that it wasn't until the mid-1990's that the traditional one-day feast evolved into a week-long festival in Ireland?

In Ireland:
~ The first St. Patrick's Day parade held in Ireland took place in Dublin in 1931.
~ The first St. Patrick's Day Festival was held on March 17, 1996. In 1997, it became a three-day event. By 2006, the festival was five days long; more than 675,000 people attended the 2009 parade. Overall, 2009's five-day festival drew almost one million visiters.
~ The shortest St. Patrick's Day parade in the world takes place in Dripsey, County Cork. The parade lasts just 100 yards and travels between the village's two pubs.
~St. Patrick's Day is seen as a day on which Irish Catholics can break their Lenten fast.

"St. Patrick's Day is now a major festival in Ireland, with week-long celebrations," said Paula Hodson, Assistant General Manager, Agency, Sales & Marketing of the Travelers Ireland office, "People around the world and especially the U.S., have been celebrating the Irish on St. Patrick's Day for much longer than we have!"

La Fheile Phadraig shona dhaoibh go leir! -

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of you!

The "Pepsi" Challenge Update

Well, I am beginning to think that Pepsi has the wrong name. He has so much spunk that he should have been named, "Sprite!"  He is still having some trouble adjusting to his new life but, much to our surprise, he is gradually getting better each week. Still not sure if he is going to be happy with us, but at least I know that he is giving it "an old college try." He follows me around the house and lays aside of me when I am watching TV or on the computer. He really is a little lover.

Yesterday, my husband took this pic of he and Midnight ...

We have decided to keep him  for 2 more weeks to see how he does. I know that if it doesn't work out in the end, he will still have a good home with his grandma Fran. She would love to take him and this way her daughter (Pepsi's previous mommy) could visit him all of the time. It is good to know that everyone has Pepsi's best interest at heart - what a really lucky kitty he is!

Reiki Room

Lately I have been working on my Reiki Room.  Since I have been getting more reiki clients, I need to fix things up a bit downstairs. I would eventually like to set things up in our spare bedroom instead once I acquire an actual Reiki bed to use.  At the moment, I am using an inflated mat which serves the purpose for the time being.

My Reiki altar consists of my 7 Chakra candles, crystal quartz pendulum, pure sage oil,  my God & Goddess candles and so forth. Hung above the altar, I have a Prayer Rug which my husband brought back with him many years ago from Turkey.

My Reiki room it isn't fancy, but it does the job just fine!

My Cotton-tailed Friends

Since we will soon be celebrating the sabbat of Ostara, I thought it only fitting to remember all of my special cotton-tailed friends that we have had the pleasure to have shared our lives with over the years. They were all rescue bunnies including our most recent Dwarf bunny, Sam.

First there was Sir Barney, our black and white Mini Lop, whom we took in when he was just a little buck. We found
him abandoned in an old apartment. He was the most awesome of all our rabbits. I actually litter box trained him using the book, "Hop To It" for training house bunnies. He lived to be 7 years old which is the average age for a Mini Lop.

Our Maine Coon, Sabrina snuggling with Barney

   Our cat Maggie saying, "I love you!"

"Right back atcha, baby!"

Then came Choloe, a sweet little gray and white speckled bunny who found a home with us after a friend of mine found her outside his neighbors house - she kept escaping from her cage! Rather than see a dog or car get to her, we took her in. She also lived to be about 7.

Now we share our home with Sam, a tiny brown and white Dwarf bunny that someone decided to drop off  in our yard last Fourth of July (they must have known the right house to pick - lol!) Sam is such a character and my cat Midnight loves to keep him company sometimes by laying aside of his cage in the cat's room.

Sam (left) posing with his buddy Sidney, who belongs to a friend of mine

As you can see, our cats have always gotten along really great with all of our bunnies. This post is dedicated to all of them!