Tonights Altar

I just wanted to give you some pictures of my altar tonight. I don't always do full moon rituals. Yeah yeah probably bad of me. I'm a busy mom though and sometimes I don't feel like being the High Priestess and baby wrangler/mom at the same time. I literally had a baby on my hip while trying to light sage tonight. Thankfully my daughter is a good helper. We also figured out halfway in that we could use Wyatt's high chair and we was relatively satisfied just looking and once in awhile, ringing the bell. Hey he wanted to help too!

My objective was two-fold tonight. Say a prayer for a friend of mine who is afraid cancer has come back, and do a wishing well. I am horrible at manifesting a reality when it comes to my own life. That really needs to change. So the small cauldron in the middle is filled with salted water, a pentacle, and a ring because it fell in by accident. If something happens by accident, I figure its divine will so I leave it. The tarot cards represent where I am in life at this moment and where I want to be in the future.

OK so the pictures.

The full altar

The cauldron with our wishes.

The candle in the center is for Chester. Healing light being sent his way!

Samhain On The East Coast

Well hurricane Sandy is coming and it looks like it's going to change plans for most trick or treaters. We are in the south east part of Ohio so we may have snow next week.

I had already decided weeks ago that we would not be joining a group this year for Samhain. I felt a need to stay home and keep it all in the family. Especially since this will be the first time we will do a ritual in our new apartment.

My ritual also involves bringing out my genealogy records. That's what I love about rituals, you can use virtually anything that has meaning to you! Have you ever used your family tree during Samhain or when evoking your ancestors? So many pages and I only know the stories of a short few; which is sad when you think about it.

Someone posted a poem on FB yesterday that I thought really put my feelings into words perfectly. I'll also be using this poem in our Samhain ritual. I do not know the author of this poem, so if this is your work or if you know who wrote it please tell me so I may give credit.

STRANGERS IN THE BOX
Come, look with me inside this drawer,
In this box I've often seen,
At the pictures, black and white,
Faces proud, still, and serene.

I wish I knew the people,
These strangers in the box,
Their names and all their memories,
Are lost among my socks.

I wonder what their lives were like,
How did they spend their days?
What about their special times?
I'll never know their ways.

If only someone had taken time,
To tell, who, what, where, and when,
These faces of my heritage,
Would come to life again.

Could this become the fate,
Of the pictures we take today?
The faces and the memories,
Someday to be passed away?

Take time to save your stories,
Seize the opportunity when it knocks,
Or someday you and yours,
Could be strangers in the box.

Will you be changing your Samhain or Halloween plans because of hurricane Sandy?

Moving Forward

At last! I can finally say we are moving forward. It's been a long hard road, but we are finally going to move out of my MIL's home. We just signed the lease today. We'll have to wait till DH's day off this Saturday to move. But I've been doing all of the paperwork and getting utilities in our name. We stayed and walked around the apartment for a bit and Sierra is in love with her room.

The bad news is that we have very little household items in our name. DH's aunt is giving us two love seats, one of them is a sleeper sofa. We have a table that Dh's PC can go on. Other than that, we don't have a lot and not a lot of money to buy things either. I've posted on Freecycle asking for some essentials. We also won't have Internet for a few weeks, so I'm sorry to say I won't be able to write on my own blog or indulge myself in reading your lovely blog posts. It's just a temporary hiatus though so I'll be back with fresh content and much happier for having my own space!

I'll leave you with this. It's my latest clay creation. They are Elder Futhark Runes. They are carved on both sides. I also will be working on a clay box for these to go in. Once I'm finished they will be going in my new Etsy store, Pagan Creation. I may also do a little something for a giveaway in October. So stay tuned for that!

So until next time, Blessings, love, and light to all.

SWC

Our BOS & Isis!

Sorry I've been a little quiet lately. I assure you I'm not sitting on my bum doing nothing. OK I am sitting on my bum but it's for a good cause. After making my Cernunnos out of clay I realized, I really like sculpting! I may not be very good at human features but I do pretty good for my purposes. After all it doesn't have to be perfect, but the energy I put into making it just gives my clay figurines that much more power. I think it's better than going out and buying a Cernunnos and Isis statue. Now I just have to think about what I want to make next. hmm. Suggestions?

Clay Isis. By SalemWitchChild

Here is Isis. Overall I like her, though there are a few things I wish I'd have smoothed over before I allowed her to dry out too much to fix. I made her with an offering cup at the bottom, which as you can see I've yet to take her out of the molded cup because I just finished her today. I'll do that in a couple of days and here's hoping it comes out smoothly! Otherwise I think I owe my MIL some Tupperware. How do you like her?

I've thought about going back and adding the same cup, or maybe one slightly larger, to Cernunnos. We'll see how Isis comes out of the mold first before I go messing around with his design.

I've also been doing my research on Cernunnos. I think most witches and Wiccans have a Book of Shadows. Or at least a journal. I don't specifically call mine a BOS. Instead it's titled "Thoughts, Feelings, and Dreams." I also have poems and other Pagan related information written in here. Yes, a couple spells as well. I'm not a good little witch when it comes to documenting all my witchy stuff. I usually end up writing out rituals on loose paper and burning that paper at the end of the ritual. So for one to make it into my BOS is rare. I also think it's rare for today's modern Pagan to not have his or her rituals on the computer. I guess I'm old fashioned in that I want it on real paper. It doesn't have to be fancy. Mine is just in a normal half sized journal type booklet. I feel more comfortable with a tangible item than typing it all out and saving it on my PC. Probably because like the other day, when my laptop screen bit the dust. I'm using my daughters Netbook for the time being.

Do you keep a written BOS, a computerized BOS, or a little of both? Do you like your own crafted tools better than bought ones?

I Will Survive

Meet Mumbah. I think his life perfectly showcases what it takes to have a will to survive. He's one of the oldest gorillas to live a whopping 47 years! Sadly he passed away at the Columbus zoo on my sons birthday, May 18th 2012. RIP to this gentleman.

Well everyone I'm one day post-op and I'm doing fine. Even had the energy to take my daughter to the library today and do a few errands. I'm not in pain that much. My lower jaw and my neck muscles hurt. I'm swollen and a bit bruised but I'm not near as in much pain as they told me I'd be in.

I had taken a print out of Kellymom.com breastfeeding pain medicine list so I could let them know what kind of pain med I could take. I'm not about to give up breastfeeding for the surgery. One mouthy little nurse told me she couldn't take "Information you print out on the net" and that only a medical doctors reference would work. I was livid. I told her it wasn't just info off the net. It was well researched info off the net! She refused to even look at it. All the while mouthing off about how I should really have talked with my OB or pediatrician. Neither my OB or pediatrician is breastfeeding friendly. So I wasn't about to take their advice which would be "Don't breastfeed past a year".

Anyway, she ended up giving me a narcotic pain med that she said should be OK with my son over 1 yr old and 30+lbs. He's a big baby! I just shrugged and said fine I'll just take Tylenol unless I really can't stand the pain. She quickly laughed and said I'd need more than Tylenol.

Well little miss priss. Its one day after the surgery and I have YET to need that stupid pain pill. And I'm not toughing anything out. It just doesn't hurt. I've had worse scrapes than the pain I feel right now. Not to say it might not get worse. But I have 3 different prescription pain pills here. And I'm sure one of them will take care of it before that narcotic will be needed. *Sticks out tongue here to that stupid nurse*.

There was also some excitement later today that resulted in me calling the Sheriffs office. My daughter was outside riding her bike and when she came around the corner she noticed a tan car with two men looking at my car. One had remained in the drivers seat, the other had got out and was looking INSIDE my car! They told her (And I've already lectured about her talking with the men instead of coming to get me immediately) that my car had been involved in an accident. She told them we had not and they quickly left. Well I went to talk with the neighbor who is having a yard sale today figuring he might have scene something. He told me they had asked him about a Lumina that is for sale. I drive a Lumina btw but my car is not for sale. (I also don't owe on the car so it wasn't repo men or anything).

It was all very odd. I couldn't see why they should be snooping around and lying. At least no good reason. So I've made sure the doors are locked on all our vehicles and called the Sheriff to report suspicious activity. They won't take a police report unless they come back. But I feel good that they'll watch the area a bit more closely for a few days. And one Sheriff works right down the road so that's good too.

For now, I'm going to relax and allow my Tylenol and cold compress to do their thing. Night all!