Today we leave for Disney! I am really looking forward to this vacation! Leaving right after New Moon and returning just before the next Full Moon - perfect!

I will be updating my Family Disney Vacations blog in real time with photos, from my Blackberry. Should be really exciting! Follow along if you'd like!

Be Kind to the Earth EVERY day...

Blessed Earth Day~

Take some time to read over my EcoFriendly Tips

I've taken to trying to make my own potpourri - with a dog, a cat and a hamster in this house, I definitely want to keep the house smelling fresh - don't want it smelling like the animals! I found this concoction online and decided to give it a whirl - I LOVE IT!

Ingredients:
3 Lemons
5 Oranges or Tangerines
Orange aromatherapy (fragrance) oil
Orange Cedar chips, Natural Angel Wings, Albezzia leaves, Birch cones and orange Star Flowers

Instructions:
1. Slice fruit into thin slices.

2. To dry out the fruit, use a food dehydrator or place slices on a wax paper-lined baking pan and place it in the oven on very low heat until it is light brown and has almost no odor.

3. Place dried fruit and botanicals into two glasses or reused plastic containers with tops. Add 5-10 drops of orange essence.

4. Put the top snugly on the container and place it in a dark area for two weeks; shake every few days.

5. When you uncover the potpourri, place it in a small cheese cloth or silk sack to use as drawer fresheners or put in a decorative bowl as an alternative to deodorizers in bathrooms and kitchen.

Source: ecofabulous.com

Point your Athame at the sky, and then at the earth.

Then pointing Athame horizontally either spin 360 or walk around the perimeter with the Athame held out in a threatening manner.

"Spirits of evil, Unfriendly beings
Unwanted guests, Be gone!
Leave us leave this place, leave this Circle,
that the Goddess and the God may enter.

Go, or be cast into the outer darkness!
Go, or be drowned in the watery abyss!
Go, or be burned in the flames!
Go, of be torn by the whirlwind!
By the power of the Mother and the Horned One
We banish you! We banish you! We banish you!"

It's the same round and round I've had with my family for years. My spirituality and what I believe seems to be 'nonsense' yet I am expected to partake in the traditions my family has on their holidays.

I have been Pagan for over 15 years now and openly practicing for about 10. My family knows I am Pagan, they know I was in a Coven. The only event any family member ever attended was Olivia's Wiccaning - only my mom came. Yet, every year when Ostara comes around or when Yule comes around, it's the same thing - those special days get overlooked by my family and by CJ's family. Okay, fine, they are not Pagan so why should I expect anything from them?

Maybe because I am expected to be at my mom's house on Holy Saturday (she's Catholic) to eat blessed food and I am expected to be at my dad's every Easter for ham. My kids gets tons of candy in their Easter baskets. What do they get on Ostara from family? Nothing. Why are they getting EASTER baskets anyway???!

Every Christmas Eve I run myself ragged to my dad's in the afternoon and then to my mom's in the evening. An overabundant amount of presents for the kids is an every year occurrence. What do they get for Yule from family? Nothing.

Even my mother in law - whom I adore, when she called to chat with me today, felt the need to say to me, "I know you don't celebrate it, but tell the kids I said Happy Easter." Why? You just admitted you know we don't celebrate it. I just don't get it?

Why do I still get looked at like I am speaking another language when I mention Ostara or Yule? Why am I 'expected' to continue their traditions but no one can see my side? Why, when I speak my mind, am I the asshole?

I am helping to plan a wedding and one of the big things is the bride and bridesmaid getting their hair and make-up done professionally. The bride to be doesn't want her hair stylist doing make-up, so I have had to search the area basically for Newport Rhode Island wedding make-up specialty places.

One has a huge selection of mineral make-up and their products seem pretty impressive. I don't know much about mineral make-up but I've heard lots of good things about it. Anyone use it personally?

April's Full Moon is known as the Pink Moon. This name came from the herb moss pink, or wild ground phlox, which is one of the earliest widespread flowers of the spring.

Other names for this month's Full Moon include the Full Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, and among coastal tribes the Full Fish Moon, because this was the time that the shad swam upstream to spawn.

This full Moon is in Libra (exact on April 9th, at 10:56 am EDT). Libra evokes the instinct for balance, justice and relationship harmony.

I will definitely be taking some time tonight for reflection. I need to bring some harmony back into my crazy life.

At the time of the Full Moon, take your Book of Shadows (one that
hasn't been written in yet) and some incense (pennyroyal, anise or rue) outside.

Under the light of the Full Moon, draw a pentagram on the first page and under this
write the following information: date, time, place, your magical name (and sigil if you have one),
the moon's phase and any other info you feel is important.


Hold the book up to the Moon and say:

"Here as the Full Moon shines upon me,
Bless this Book I've made tonight.
I humbly ask this of thee,
Underneath your most sacred light."

Source: http://www.pagan-magic.co.uk