Go out beneath the naked night

Winner!

2012-01-21T22:45:00.003-05:00

Thanks to all who threw their names & favorite Major Arcana in the ring. Always interesting to hear who favors what card. I am a fan of The Magician, especially in the Paulina deck:

But enough about me, let's get to Renee of the Fae, the winner! On her blog, The Woman I Want to Be, she has been chronicling her dream journeys after dousing herself with mugwort tea. Go have a look, and R of the F, please let me know your mailing address.

Congratulations to Renee of the Fae from The Wizardess

Post #201: A Tarot Give-Away!

2012-01-16T18:47:00.004-05:00

Been cleaning & organizing, and some of my stuff needs liberating! Please comment below to enter in the give-away, including a way to contact you if you don't have a public Blogger profile or blog. The stuff:

Tarot of the Vampires Deck & Phantasmagoria by Ian Daniels

Tall Dark Stranger: Tarot for Love & Romance by Corrine Kenner

Both are in excellent condition, and have some truly terrific bits, but I'm feeling a great loyalty to my Paulina decks & I just don't use them anymore! (To be clear, the Vampire is deck + book, the Tall Dark Stranger is just the book. As far as I know, there's no particular deck associated with it. Kenner interprets via the classic Rider-Waite images.) To enter, leave a comment below telling me your favorite Major Arcana card. I will draw the winner on Friday, January 20th, so commence commenting!

Badger Rules of Thumb

2012-01-13T00:55:00.000-05:00

I have a thing for Badgers. And they like me, too. Here is my adaptation of the Badger Rules of Thumb from The Cottage Tales series by Susan Wittig Albert. This mystery series is based on the life of Beatrix Potter. They are fun & fluffy!

The Badger Rules of Thumb

1. De parvis, grandis acerbus erit, or from small things, there will grow a mighty heap. In the common parlance: “Many littles make a mickle, many mickles make a mile.”

2. Be wary of all dogs, & especially of terriers who have been taught to tunnel, for it is safe to say that they do not have a badger’s best interests at heart.

3. The Aiding & Abetting Rule: One must be helpful to one’s fellow creatures, large & small, for one never knows when one will require help oneself.

4. Every male badger is expected to leave his place of birth & establish a new sett of his own, unless the senior badger of the sett has elected him to receive the Badger Badge of Authority, which entitles him to manage the sett.

5. All badgers should practice the art of hospitality, gladly accommodating any animal who finds himself temporarily without bed, board, or a roof, and turning away only those who would be a danger to their neighbors.
Corollary to Rule of Thumb 5:
A badger’s table should be spread in generous abundance, with enough food for any visitors who happen by at mealtimes.
2nd Corollary to Rule of Thumb 5:
Every guest deserves a place at the table where he or she can eat undisturbed and unafraid. This is why a rabbit can sit between a fox and a ferret and eat and laugh and tell stories without the slightest apprehension.

6. Do not openly criticize your friend’s living & dining arrangements.

7. One may hope for friends at the door, but one is well-advised to anticipate enemies.

8. It is rude to criticize another animal’s story, no matter how wanting in art it might be. Every animal’s story is one of the most important things about him (or her); for animals are storying creatures and live by their tales & the tales they have learnt from others. One’s stories are as important to one’s self-esteem as are one’s fur & whiskers & ought to be admired in much the same way.

9. Young badgers are to be nurtured & guided every day. While learning is important, play is the work of the young. They should have some chores & time to make merry every day.

10. All badgers, regardless of sex, age, & state of health, are important to the well-being of the badger clan and must be honored for the roles they play in maintaining a stable and productive community life.

11. Never wake a sleeping dragon, for your flesh is firm & fat & tastes good grilled.

12. When you’re helping yourself in someone else’s garden or larder, you must be mindful of the others who depend upon the same food. Enough is as good as a feast, & it is a well-mannered badger (or rabbit) who leaves a fair share for the gardener & the cook.

13. It is impolite to inquire about missing ears (or parts of ears), torn fur or feathers, missing paws, & other injuries. Animals are prone to accident & the world is full of traps, snares, & hunting parties.

14. Our badger ancestors have crossed the bridge to the Back of Beyond, but their spirits are constantly with us, in the form of what humans like to call “ghosts.” The prudent badger is mindful of their presence, & always behaves as if he is in the company of watchful elders.

15. It is the better part of wisdom to keep one’s head when one is confronted with catastrophe, calamity, or cataclysm. Losing one’s head never solves anything.

16. The prudent badger assesses the situation, determines a course of action, & speedily gathers the appropriate resources. Such badgers should be called upon for leadership whenever the clan is in need of help.

17. Hold a true friend with both paws, but be willing to let him or her go when the time comes. It is an impropriety to inquire into the whereabouts of one’s absent friends, companions & acquaintances, for life in wood & field is prone to accident.

18. If a fox, (or any other predator) is intent on helping himself to a sitting duck (or any other prey) there’s nothing of consequence a badger can (or should) do about it.

19. Each Rule of Thumb should be honored, as a thousand years of Badger History have proved its usefulness & utility. As a badger grows in age & experience, obedience to the Rules of Thumb is to be tempered with wisdom as each animal faces new dilemmas & enemies.

Paulina Cassidy found my Youtube!

2012-01-10T14:42:00.001-05:00

And she likes it! I did this little video to promote my gigs on Fiverr, but found that is was too long to upload. I get the occasional comment on it, but Paulina posted it on her Facebook. The ultimate approval!
Go look at it right now before her Wall gets cluttered up with less important things! http://www.facebook.com/paulinacassidyart

It's there, really! But it's also here, on my Youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGRblSkjLG4

With fangirl excitement from The Wizardess

Wintery

2012-01-10T01:08:00.000-05:00

Full Moon Blessings from The Wizardess

Snowdrops

2012-01-06T14:55:00.000-05:00

Peaceful thoughts, as the days really do grow longer, from The Wizardess

Rooted in Black Earth & Stories

2012-01-04T16:51:00.000-05:00

I'm printing this perfect message out & posting it everywhere! A few friends & I are going in on 2000 stickers of the design as well.

As Rima says, take it, let it run & be whatever you want it to be:
http://intothehermitage.blogspot.com/2012/01/rise-root.html

Got to add Rima's Hermitage to my sidebar; I have been remiss.

From the Old Heart of The Wizardess

2012 Tarot!

2012-01-01T20:37:00.000-05:00

Using my handy dandy brand new Joie de Vivre Tarot by Paulina Cassidy, I drew a card for the Year.
Ta-da!

This is the wish card: material wealth, wish fulfillment, satisfaction, happiness & good family relations. Paulina's keywords in the LWB for the deck are happiness, confidence, health, triumph & abundance. Sounds pretty good to me!

My Major Arcana card for the Year is The Hermit. This is apt because it will be a much more scholarly year for me. I don't really want to become too isolated, though. Here tis from the Joie de Vivre:

If you are interested in this deck, don't worry about the keyword at the bottom. It is not printed on the actual cards themselves, just on the images on Paulina's website. The cards DO have a copyright symbol from US Games on them. It's small, but I find it a bit irksome.

To find your Major Arcana for the Year, add together your birthdate numbers: 6 + 25 for me, then add all the digits of 2012, then add together & reduce to a single digit. The Hermit is number 9. If you write the card down now, then just add one for the next year, and bob's your uncle!

Tarot Blessings from The Wizardess

Cute?

2011-12-30T23:47:00.002-05:00

You say you want the cute? You can't HANDLE the cute!

Seriously. I could just squee constantly, going around the house. Lady of the Beasts, thank you, thank you, for these furry entities who share my life!

New Year's Blessings from Friskie, Kristofferson, Kitsune, Pinkie Moon & The Wizardess

(oh yeah, the worms in the worm bin send blessings, too.)

I am using my device.

2011-12-26T19:16:00.000-05:00

Yes indeed, from The Wizardess

And in kitty-cat news, Kristofferson is off trying again, boink boink boink, with Rocky, below.

Let's petition the Goddess for a nice bunch of kittens around the beginning of March.

And then there's Suni:

Who's in heat! Really, truly. You wouldn't believe the vocalizations. Bird chirps, trills, boops, beeps, good old yowls, everything. Unfortunately, she needs to wait about another 2 months before she can play any sexy reindeer games.

RRRRrrrrrllllllllllllll??!? from Suni & The Wizardess

2011-12-25T23:53:00.000-05:00

Just finished the Yule left-overs...collard green "purses" filled with faux ham, onions & mushrooms, mashed potatoes & chickpea gravy, a wickedly good chocolate mint mocha marzipan trifle. Feeling full of comfort & joy, (and just full, as in sated :) like these foxes and kitty...

Peace from The Wizardess

2011-12-24T21:43:00.002-05:00

With Best Christmas Wishes

2011-12-24T12:12:00.000-05:00

A rose from the Goddess & The Wizardess

2011-12-23T22:04:00.004-05:00

A friendly reminder from The Wizardess!

2011-12-23T14:53:00.001-05:00

Blessings from The Wizardess.

Darn it.

2011-12-18T18:54:00.000-05:00

Kristofferson, my beautiful Norwegian Forest Cat, is NOT pregnant. I was wondering when her weight gain was so slight, but I thought, hey, she's skinny to begin with, and maybe she's only having 2-3 babehs. K is now in heat. Full on, rolling, meowing, squirming, writhing, assume the position heat.

Sigh. I am not informing my family, since the due date of 12/26 was the perfect excuse to avoid any Christmas visiting. I will still have a quiet, kitty-cat filled cozy holiday season. It just won't be quite as kitty-cat filled as I was expecting.

And K is so so ready to try again. I know how she feels! (She's on the left. Daughter Suni on the right.)

There has got to be a boy cat around here somewhere! I'll just walk on top of the 1/2" wide balcony railing until I attract one!!

re-winner

2011-12-13T17:11:00.001-05:00

The random number generator has selected Danni of The Whimsical Cottage as the new give-away winner! Yay! (Channeling Kermit the Frog, head back, arms up). Danni, please send me your mailing address and Good Yule!

Cheers from The Wizardess

Tis the season to give stuff away...

2011-12-13T01:19:00.004-05:00

That nice give-away from Pagan Soccer Mom below ends tomorrow. Get in on it! Also, long, long ago, there was a Practical Magic Blog Party. And it was fun. And I tried to give Aunt Jet's Lavender Oil away. However, the lovely Leaf Ballard, my winner, left no contact information. So I'm going to select again, sometime tomorrow, from the commenters on that post: here tis.

I'll also throw in a little Yule surprise, since it's taken me so long to get to this. As I clean up for Yule, and get set for baby kitties to come, I'm finding nice things that seem to want to leave me, so look for more giving in the immediate future!

Cheers from The Wizardess

A lovely give-away on Pagan Soccer Mum

2011-12-06T22:40:00.000-05:00

Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom: Giveaway from Brynn McCullough!: The winner of this giveaway from Brynn McCullough will not only win an amazing Green Fairy Pendulum Board, but also a gorgeous pendulum! ...

Christmas Kittehs

2011-12-04T23:01:00.001-05:00

This kitteh here:

went & had sexy-time with this kitteh here:

And top kitteh, Kristofferson, who condescends to live with me, is expecting baby kittehs on December 26th!

So I will have a festive Yule, and then hunker down with pretty Kristofferson & just wait for babies. I can't think of a better way to spend this holiday. Especially considering how K's past babies have turned out, like this:

While I have rescued kittens, and been around lots of other animals while birthing, I've never been around a mama kitteh throughout the whole process. K has gained over a pound and her teats are prominent. Her personality has changed as well.

All these pussy-cats are Norwegian Forest Cats. Freya's cats. I'll be writing about them in weeks to come! Sorry for the long hiatus. I have been keeping up with all you more faithful bloggy types.

Cheers from the Wizardess

2011-10-31T00:06:00.002-04:00

Today I have been thinking about the dead.

This is the last day of the old year. The bracken on the hill has turned brown, the elms at the valley's end have lost their leaves and the winter slaughter of our cattle has begun. Tonight is Samhain Eve.

Tonight the curtain that separates the dead from the living will quiver, fray, and finally vanish. Tonight the dead will cross the bridge of swords. Tonight the dead will come from the Otherworld to this world, but we shall not see them. They will be shadows in the darkness, mere whispers of wind in a windless night, but they will be there....There will be a loaf of bread and a pitcher of water beside the kitchen ashes tonight.

I shall leave more. A cup of mead and a piece of salmon. They are small gifts, but all I can afford, and tonight I shall place them in the shadows by the hearth then go to my monk's cell and welcome the dead who will come to this cold house on its bare hill.

~From Enemy of God by Bernard Cornwell

I too am thinking about the dead. My hearth will be my stove, where I work & offer to the Mother daily. My gifts will not be mead & salmon, but they will be precious to me. I'm thinking there is one of my beloved dead who would like for me to leave my guitar out for him. Hail to your beloved dead; may you be guided unerringly by their love & wisdom.

My busy balcony

2011-10-29T17:14:00.000-04:00

is being snowed upon! So weird, Snowtober. And the power just blinked. Time for a quick tour of the haunted balcony, before we lose it altogether. The Faceless Reapers are named Hall & Oates: Hall the green, Oates the purple. Nothing more terrifying than bland 80s tunes, in my opinion.

Little Samhain gift for self

2011-10-28T13:47:00.000-04:00

Joie de Vivre Tarot, by Paulina Cassidy, is available for purchase! Mine is on its way. Here is the Amazon link.

I have been waiting for this one. I love Paulina's original Tarot and I use it all the time. The new deck is brighter, and seems a bit less intricate, but possibly has more energy. I won't really know until I get the cards in my hot little hands. Samhain is the time for reflection & divination. Get out those cards & runes, or just stare at a candle flame for a good long while and see what comes to you. Blessings!

Samhain Blessings!

2011-10-27T20:34:00.002-04:00

I hope you are getting up to your ears in both excitement & plans for honoring the dead. I had to take a moment to post this: elder kitty gets into the best positions sometimes! The Ghastly Grey Gentleman, star of my balcony decorations, is so eager to give her a little petting session.

I have never forgotten those green eyes...

And a teeny glimpse of the balcony...more to come!

555

2011-10-04T00:19:00.002-04:00

October 2011 has 5 Mondays, 5 Sundays & 5 Saturdays. This happens once every 823 years. Let's make good use of them!