My little Witchlets singing/dancing (if you can call it that, LOL) to this Pagan Song - they call it 'Goddess music'

Lyrics:

May the circle be open but unbroken
May the peace of the Goddess be ever in your heart
Merry meet, and merry part,
And merry meet again

Mercury was last retrograde in May. Next month, the fastest moving planet in the zodiac will once again be retrograde for 3 weeks from September 7 to 29; the complete retrograde cycle, including the shadow period is August 17 to October 14.

Unlike his movements back in May, next month Mercury joins five other celestial bodies which are currently in retrograde (Jupiter, Chiron, Neptune, Uranus, Pluto). This makes it all the more easier, perhaps inevitable, for us to turn our focus inward. Added to that energy is Pluto's return at Aries Point in Capricorn, who will undoubtedly rehash what remains unanswered ... unsettled.

Mercury backwards in an eclipse season will reveal more depth than you thought was possible. Expect BIG secrets to come out. Real shockers!

So, just what does Mercury in retrograde mean? Well, as is the standard with any retrograde planet, this Mercury retrograde period is a time for the prefix "re" -- reflect, rethink, re-plan, review, retool, reorganize, redefine, re-examine, rewrite, reread, repair. So reassess, as necessary and as much as you want, but avoid starting new projects, signing any contracts, or entering into any major agreements or commitments. It's easy to overlook details or neglect to include information pertinent to the terms. A change of mind is also common. If you must enter into an agreement during the retrograde period, it is important to re-read all fine print, have another set of eyes go over it, and get all your questions answered before completing the transaction.

For me, I WILL be signing a contract during this period! We are going to become Disney Vacation Club members and I can't wait!! But I digress, lol. I will be sure to have CJ read over everything.

With all this talk of the H1N1 virus (swine flu) becoming more prevalent, so many people are becoming increasingly anxious in preparation for the the fall/winter months ahead.

Of course, proper hand washing and overall good hygiene needs to be practiced to keep any illness at bay. Also, definitely see a doctor if you feel you are sick or are getting sick. Your health is nothing to be taken frivolously!


However, if you're looking for a spell to keep illnesses at bay, here is an easy yet powerful candle magic spell:

Burn a black candle anointed with banishing oil and burn banishing incense. Concentrate on removing whatever the health problem may be by saying;

"As this candle burns,
so the illness turns,
melted like this wax,
cut like with an ax,
remove and banished,
all disabilities vanished,
as my word you see,
radiant health blessed be."

Let the candle burn until done. Then bury ashes from incense and leftover wax.

Source: Pagan Magic - Wicca & Witchcraft Shop

This is a great chant for raising energy.

The earth is our mother,
We must take care of her.
The earth is our mother,
We must take care of her.

Chorus: Hey yanna, ho yanna, hey yan yan.
Hey yanna, ho yanna, hey yan yan.

Her sacred ground we walk upon
With every step we take.
Her sacred ground we walk upon
With every step we take.

Chorus

The earth is our mother,
She will take care of us.
The earth is our mother,
She will take care of us.

Chorus


You can add this to the chant:

The sky is our father
We must take care of him
The sky is our father
We must take care of him

His sacred air we take inside
With every breath we take
His sacred air we take inside
With every breath we take

The sky is our father
He will take care of us
The sky is our father
He will take care of us

This month the New Moon is in Leo. Leo is natively ruled by the Sun. The Moon in Leo is bold, strong-willed, stable, and becomes new on August 20 at 6:01 a.m. Eastern.

As I begin to research and learn more about astrology, I am more and more intrigued. In fact, this is a 'New Moon' project for me, to begin on a journey of learning something new (astrology) which I find very complex.

On my quest for information, I came across a very interesting article regarding this New Moon in Leo. Here is an excerpt:

"It is the New Moon in Leo, the time to assess our selves personally and evaluate our family and community relations. We just experienced three eclipses-a Full Moon lunar eclipse before the extremely intense eclipse solar eclipse in 29 Cancer (the previous New Moon), and then the Full Moon lunar eclipse just two weeks ago on August 5/6.

These eclipses pushed all of us to focus on our personal security and the nurturance in our lives, which for many of us dredged up deep emotional insecurities. This communal deep dive into our feelings was unusually disorienting because time is so accelerated during the Galactic Underworld (1999-2011). These eclipses ripped open multidimensional doorways, and some were flooded with memories of previous lives that are relevant to current dilemmas.

The eclipses opened leaks in the time barriers that usually block our access to other realms. The question with this Leo New Moon is: Who are you and what is your special gift? Have you found a way to share it that you enjoy?"

Read More...

Time for some deep meditation and soul searching.

All this talk of crafty Pagans made me realize I never posted pictures of the necklace my daughter made me for Mother's Day! My ex-husband, Jeff (her father) helped her make this necklace but they didn't have a chain or chord to put the charm on. I guess that's why I forgot to mention it, as I was unable to wear it.

She finally remembered to remind Jeff about this so I now have a chord for it and I LOVE wearing it!

If you're feeling wiped out and you need to relax - relax in a bath filled with herbs that are meant to calm and heal.

I hardly ever take baths anymore so when I do it's definitely going to be a bath I want to relax in - a time to just let my body rejuvenate and heal.



Here's what you need:

• 2 parts Lavender
• 2 parts Rose
• 1 part Peppermint
• 1 part Cinnamon

Place into a muslin bath or cheesecloth square, and allow to steep in the bath water for 5-10 minutes.

This bath speeds the healing process.

To help with colds and 'flu, add 2 parts Eucalyptus to the mix.


Source: pagan-magic.co.uk

I was just contacted by Sharon Swendner, President, .Com Marketing regarding the post I made about the company Beads of Cambay, back in October 2008. If you are not familiar with this debacle, read this:
Crafty Pagans - Beware of This Company! - then come back to this post!

Okay, so this Sharon person left me this message:

"Lisa, I'm posting here based on some things you said quite some time ago (October 2008), but since as you know things stay on the web for a long time, I only became aware of it yesterday. I wanted to let you know what really transpired and why. The posts I am speaking of are related to a client of ours, Beads of Cambay, and some posts you made about them. You were part of a paid blogger campaign that we ran on their behalf at that time. You were kind enough to accept our post opportunity and say some very nice things about them. However, it seems there were two things that happened after that and resulted in additional not so friendly posts. First you said that you were paid late for your post. I did check with the accounting group at our blog platform partner and my understanding is that the delay in payment was because you did not adhere to the requirements of the post (keywords, link, etc.). That was identified and you were notified to adjust the post. Once that was accomplished, the payment was released.

The second issue was around you being banned from posting for our client, Beads of Cambay. Part of what my company and team do for our clients when we use blog posts is follow their branding guidelines and insure we protect their reputation. As part of that service one of my team members made the decision (without input from Beads of Cambay) to remove you as a blogger with the concern that your beliefs may be offensive to some people. Our client, Beads of Cambay in no way was responsible for that ban and was not consulted in that decision. We apologize that this happened. We in no way intended to harm you and we understand that you are and remain a member in good standing of the blogging network. The decision to ban you was simply a subjective decision based on what that person knew and believed to be best for the client at that time. We were not making any judgement about you or your beliefs but simply a business decision that we believed would serve our client. Perhaps we were wrong in doing so and for that we apologize. Please however know that Beads of Cambay was not involved in this decision and did not condone or approve it. They welcome purchases from all people and do not discriminate in any way.

Thank you for the opportunity to share this information and we appreciate all your efforts on the behalf of our and other clients out there who know and understand the value of blogging. Should you wish to discuss more, please contact me via our website at www.commarketing.com."

Now, I'd like to respond, so I'll go point by point:

"First you said that you were paid late for your post. I did check with the accounting group at our blog platform partner and my understanding is that the delay in payment was because you did not adhere to the requirements of the post (keywords, link, etc.). That was identified and you were notified to adjust the post. Once that was accomplished, the payment was released."

- Ummm, no - that did NOT happen. I never said I was paid late. This is what I said: "I have altered the post to take out the links because honestly, this company deserves nothing from me. I had to wait 30 days from the date this post went live in order to receive payment and fulfill my end of the deal per the paid blogging company's TOS - now that it has been over 30 days, all bets are off!" - this means that after I WAS PAID (I had to wait 30 days as that is what the paid bogging company requires for all posts as they must be live for 30 days and then payment is sent.) So, only AFTER receiving payment did I remove links, already Sharon is mistaken.


"Part of what my company and team do for our clients when we use blog posts is follow their branding guidelines and insure we protect their reputation. As part of that service one of my team members made the decision (without input from Beads of Cambay) to remove you as a blogger with the concern that your beliefs may be offensive to some people. Our client, Beads of Cambay in no way was responsible for that ban and was not consulted in that decision."

- I know all about branding and marketing since I have been working for an excellent SEO firm. That being said, I also know it's NOT best practice for a team member (employee) to make any decision for a client without consulting them - at least not a decision like this. Tell me Sharon, did this team member realize that these were the categorie chosen (meaning blogs in the aforementioned categories were to be accepted.) I see 'alternative lifestyle' and 'religion and spirituality' I'd have to say this blog fits perfectly.


"The decision to ban you was simply a subjective decision based on what that person knew and believed to be best for the client at that time."

- So this person made a decision for your client without consulting the client, based on their very ignorant ideals - I guess they didn't realize that many Pagans are very craft and talented.


"We were not making any judgement about you or your beliefs but simply a business decision that we believed would serve our client."

- Okay, this part is just stupid. Sharon, how can you say I was not being judged based on my beliefs? I was obviously being judged on something and if it wasn't my beliefs, then what was it?

Oh wait, it WAS my beliefs because this was the response I got:
Yes, it says, " I don't prefer my client's to advertise on a Pagan Community website."
Yup, it was obviously what this team member wanted - no input from the client? WOW - way to run a business.


"Please however know that Beads of Cambay was not involved in this decision and did not condone or approve it. They welcome purchases from all people and do not discriminate in any way."

- If this is infact true, then my apologies to the company Beads of Cambay. Unfortunately, it was Beads of Cambay that hired this company to represent them - maybe hey need to be more mindful of whom they allow to do their marketing and public relations because I am betting that .ComMarketing has cost them lots of customers and money. Wonder how they will feel about all this?

Let's look at just what some of my readers said about the original post I made back in October 2008: Comment RSS feed

August's Full Moon is today! I still can't believe it's August already! This month's Full Moon is known as the Corn Moon, or the Barley Moon. The Full Moon this month represents grain and rebirth.

Fun Fact: August was originally known as Sextilis by the ancient Romans, but was later renamed for Augustus (Octavian) Caesar.


Correspondences:

• Colors: Yellow, red, orange
• Gemstones: Tigers eye, carnelian, garnet, red agate
• Trees: Cedar and hazel
• Gods: Vulcan, Mars, Nemesis, Hecate, Hathor, Thoth
• Herbs: Rosemary, basil, rue, chamomile
• Element: Fire

Take advantage of the Moon's fiery energy this month when doing any ritual or spell work. This is a good time to focus on spiritual and physical health as well.

Put food aside that you get from this harvest. Start storing for the Winter months. Around here, the summer has been very mild so the harvest is coming a bit late, but it's coming and that's what counts!

Well, I didn't do anything to exciting for Lunasadh, yet I did something very important to me - I spent time with my family. I only wish Olivia was with us. She was at Jeff's (her dad) for the weekend.

CJ and I took the boys out for the day. First we picked up some yummy sandwiches made with honey wheat bread (yay for Lammas!) and then we headed to a local park. It's really beautiful at this park - I happened to have forgotten the camera in the car so I only got 2 photos using my phone.

It was nice to spend the day relaxing and enjoying my family. It was such a gorgeous day out, we couldn't have asked for better weather! After the park, we took the boys to a playground so they could play for a while, then we headed to Rita's Ice for a treat!

I got a message form The Domestic Witch today, telling me that she loves my blog and she's added my blog to her blogroll. I don't have a blogroll - only because I have a page for link exchange and I also offer advertising/sidebar links - both have always worked just fine. The advertising is mainly taken up by businesses, which is awesome. The link exchange page is mainly for other blogs.

I have over 20 blogs I do this with. However, this particular blog is unique and the community it is surrounded by is fantastic, so I have decided to add a blogroll to my page.

If you have me on your blogroll, please let me know so I may yours to mine and become a follower of you as well.

What a beautiful day I woke up to today! Blessed Lughnasadh everyone! Not sure what I have planned today but I know I will be making some Lughnasadh incense to burn on my altar.

I still haven't met up with the local group I had talked about. Life is so busy and quite frankly, I need to make a change in that.

I absolutely LOVE my job - but it takes up so much of my time that I miss out of so many things. So, I will keep going strong when it comes to work, but I will make sure I keep some time aside for myself.

Now that summer is coming to an end and the fall days are ahead, I need to start looking inside myself and focus on who I really am and let go of the negative and move forward with the positive. I hate being stuck in a rut!

What are your plans for today?

Below I have posted two easy recipes for wonderfully smelling incense to burn during Lammas. You can make stick or cone incense but I have found the easiest type to make is the loose powder kind. I burn this on a piece of charcoal in the little cauldron I have on my altar.

I always add Benzoin powder to all my homemade loose incenses, just to keep it more on the powdery side so it's not too sticky. I use my mortar and pestle to crush any leaves or blossoms.

Remember, when creating incense, keep your focus on intent. As you mix and blend this Lammas incense, focus on the beginning of the harvest. Be thankful for the bounty of the earth, and the knowledge that there will be enough to eat through the coming winter months.

This first recipe involves a bit more herbs:

• 1 part basil
• 1/2 part cinnamon bark
• 1 part coriander
• 2 parts goldenrod
• 1 part heather
• 1/2 part rosemary
• 2 parts Sweet Annie (you can use dried apple blossoms if you don’t have Sweet Annie)
• 1 part yarrow

The other incense I make involves these herbs:

• sandalwood
• rosewood
• frankincense
• aloeswood

I mix all of those in 1/2 parts.

Make sure to store incense in a tightly sealed jar. Always label it and put the date on it - it is best used within 3 months of the date made.