Versatile Blogger Award

Last week I was mentioned by Aoibheal's Lair and sent the Versatile Blogger Award. Thanks so much for mentioning my blog. I really appreciate it.

The Rules after accepting the Versatile Blogger Award are:

• Thank the person who gave you the award & link back to them in your post.
• Share 7 things about yourself
• Pass this award along to 15 recently discovered blogs.



So here goes seven things about myself

1. I am a solitary witch
2. I love Latin music, actually I love some of everything and all of nothing when it comes to music.
3. I am a vegetarian
4. I love documentaries
5. I hate onions - but I love onion flavor
6. I am crafty - I made wreaths, afghans and quilts
7. As my daughter said, If I were any more Pisces I'd be an actual fish.

Next, I need to share 15 recently discovered Blogs. So here goes.
1. A Pagan Mother's Life
2. Bringing Up Salamanders
3. Citizen James
4. Secret Life of the American Working Witch
5. Confessions of a Kitchen Witch
6. Cordelia's Cauldron
7. Ellen Dugan's Blog of Witchery
8. Goats in the Garden
9. Heartsong's Circle
10. Hecate & Hecatedemeter
11. Herscope
12. La Femme Knitkita
13. La Sirene Blog
14. PurrVersatility *Adult Content
15. Something Oddly


So there you have it... It's hard to only come up with 15. There are so many out there. Maybe I'll do this again next week just to get my other favorites in there.


Namaste & Blessed Be
Sosanna
)O(

It's a Hot One!

So, it's been a week since my last post. I used to be able to post daily but something is happening in my world that keeps me from the blogging.

This weekend we had a hurricane. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. Many other areas suffered much worse than we did here at the farm. We lost two trees and had no power for two days. I complained a lot but over all my time "offline" was very productive.

I managed to get my office re-organized and clean. And when I say clean, I mean CLEAN. I changed the direction of my desk to face the wall with the door to my back. I know I know... not a good position for the Chi in the room but for now it seems comfortable. In doing this I was able to point my altar to the East. It makes me happy when it points east. Tonight my Columbia ritual will feel so much more powerful I think. Last week I attempted a sky-clad ritual and I have to admit I did feel a bit more connected to the earth and elements. I can't say that I'll do that again but I really did enjoy it.

I got up early Sunday morning to start the aftermath cleanup from Irene. Lots of limbs down and lots of debris from the storm. I hopped out of bed put on a sports bra and some jeans and my work boots ready to go into the yard. Hubby looks at me and says, "Hey, you're not going outside like that are you?" I paused for a moment and just looked at him. I said, well yeah Its hot out there and I didn't want to sweat to death. He said, "Look, if I were all hot looking and everything, you wouldn't want me outside for all the girls to look at." I nearly dropped dead in my tracks. I'm a 42 year old mother, short and I always thought a bit dumpy. Here is my husband asking me not to go outside looking so hot. ME? HOT? Well I have to say that certainly put my day off to a great start.

I have to admin I've been working hard on my body over the last 2-3 years. I've lost over 110 lbs and been able to keep myself in a size 10 for the last year. I'm excited about it. What is even more exciting is that my hubby of 9 years still thinks I'm hot.

On that note, I leave you for the day. Remember today is our weekly DC-40/51 rituals at 9pm in your time zone. Keep your chin up and stay positive.

Oh... and tell someone you love, they're hot.









Namaste & Blessed Be
Sosanna
)O(

My Week Off

Wow... so it's been a crazy week off. I spent a lot of time working on things for the Wilson Pagan's group. I put together some content for their magazine, folded some flyers and ended up taking a "friend" out for reading with Sister Sarah at Truely Unique.

Sarah never fails to amaze me. So unassuming when you walk in but such wisdom pours forward from her readings. My "Friend" was amazed by how accurate the reading was and how much she got from it. I am pleased that I was able to help her get out there to visit with Sister Sarah. She learned a great deal from here and I highly recommend her for her for all your HooDoo needs. You can always reach her by email here.

I also worked on two Samhain wreaths this week. One whimsical and one more serious.



Next I worked on the family tree a bit again. I was contacted by my hubby's 2nd cousin that offered us some photos of his Great Great Grand Parents. Both a rather serious looking couple.



Next thing I did was work my tush off. The week before I took vacation hubby and I had been watching the show "Hoarders" on Hulu. Well that was enough to get us out there to clean up that shed finally. It's now nice and clean and ready for the bike to sit there this winter.

We had one of our rescues returned to us early in the week. Ginger who we placed with a family as a pet for their daughter ended up taking to the mother instead of the daughter and they felt that that just wasn't right, so now she's back here looking for another home. If you know anyone that would like to have a slightly timid but well mannered little chihuahua just reach out to me and let me know. Ginger is up to date on shots but however still needs to be altered.
Here's a pic of the little girl.


I've been working with the Hail Columbia Group to get awareness out there about the DC-40/51 initiative that Cindy Jacobs and Rick Perry have allied themselves with. We have several Coordinators and Facebook Pages for some of the States now but can always use more help. If you can help head over to the Coordinator page and volunteer to support a state. I've started up the North Carolina page with the assistance of my co-coordinator Heather Mauldin. Come on over there and keep up to date on some of the suggested rites or circles to send out positive energy to help keep our religious freedoms intact. We also take suggestions like this great idea that was submitted by a fellow pagan.

I've teamed up with the Wilson Pagan group to see if we can have some meditations or some sort of focused energy at one of the up coming events for that very purpose. You don't have to join a group to help out, each Tuesday night at 9:50 pm in your own time zone, set aside a space on your altar or where ever you feel fits best and send out some positive energies for our first amendment.


And lastly, hubby found a part time job. Thanks to all those out there that have been lighting candles and sending me mojo bag spells to help him find a job. It's not the one he really wanted, and we won't be millionaires but you know sometimes things that start out looking like "Tin" might turn out to be "Gold" later on.


Namaste and Blessed Be
Sosanna
)O(

Silver's Spells for Protection

Recently on paperbackswap.com I found a book called "Silver's Spells for Protection" by Silver Raven Wolf.

I've heard good and bad things about Silver's books. I did read Solitary Witch, Ultimate Book of Shadows. It was interesting and I enjoyed it. I had often wanted to pick up a couple of her other books like "To Ride the Silver a Silver Broomstick" but never got around to it.


For those interested Silver's Blog can be found here.

The protection spell book is nice. For those of us that don't write our own spells it's good to have a guide to go by. With the work I'm doing on the Columbia project I've found that it's a good idea to have a nice layer of protection for myself, my family, my home and for those participating in the magic that will help us protect our nation from becoming something less than free.

On page 13, (I'm not entirely sure she didn't plan it that way) there's a wonderful little spell for self protection. I'd like to share that with you now.

Take 3 deep breaths. Imagine a silver light flowing through your body. This is the energy of the Moon Goddess. Take 3 deep breaths and imagine a gold light flowing through your body. This is the energy of the Sun God. Take 3 deep breaths and imagine a white light flowing through your body. This is the combined energy of the Universal Life Force or Universal Love. Say the following:

“Blessed be my feet that walk the path of mystery.
Blessed be my knees that kneel at the sacred altar.
Blessed be my heart formed in beauty and love.
Blessed be my mouth that speaks the sacred names.”

Open your arms wide to reach out for protection and love. Close your arms slowly across your heart to signal that you have accepted these gifts. Then say:

“So mote it be!”


What a great way to get started. I love it. I'm looking forward to my journey though this book. I'll post some of my stops along the way and share what I find.


For now, I'm off to enjoy my Saturday. Tonight's a full moon, what a wonderful opportunity to invoke the Goddess.

What is DC-40 in plain English?

Hello Bloggers, Pagans and Readers. I've been asked if I could "break down" the DC-40 thing into plain English.

This is what I came up with.




Website www.dc40.net & http://40daysoverdc.com/

DC-40 is an initiative to lay siege, their words not mine, to the city of Washington DC, Philadelphia specifically and then in all the the other states and then through worship (prayer) change the atmosphere there over 51 consecutive days. Oct 3 – Nov 22.

Three focused days let by Cindy Jacobs will be a special focus day where they will pray there in Washington as well in organized states across the US on Oct 31, Nov 1 and Nov 2.

The two groups behind this are:

Reformation Prayer Network - led by Cindy Jacobs a self proclaimed prophet, who took part in Rick Perry’s “The Response” which was funded by the American Family Association a known hate group with the Southern Poverty Law Center. Mrs Jacobs is extremely homophobic and is an end time’s prophet.

and


Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network - led by John Benefiel who has posted the video at dc40.net and released others stating that he is going to use his spiritual authority to exercise a divorce from Baal and rename Washington DC to the District of Christ. Mr. Benefiel is also teamed up with Rick Perry and states publically that the Statue of Liberty is a Demonic Idol and that homosexuality is an Illuminati plot. He blames this countries problem on the pagan founders.

Great blog post about it can be found here.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2011/07/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-new-apostolic-reformation.html

And Right Wing Watch has an article here.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/individuals/john-benefiel



These groups together are working to have the United States to move to a state of biblical law. They are beginning their action by removing all pagans (non-Christians) from office and stating that our gods, our non Christian gods are their enemy. Each of the individuals supporting this effort have ties to various statements regarding attacks on non Christian groups, attacks on the LGBT Community and with this effort to Pray away the Pagan Goddess Columbia they are staying that the first amendment only provides Christians with the protections it grants.




The group Hail Columbia (http://hailcolumbia.us/) and on Facebook is working to organize pagan people around the US to have a response action to this attack on the first amendment. Each state’s coordinator will relay information to the local groups on meetups and events. Local groups can share their information via the Coordinator or directly to the group on the facebook page on what types of actions they are planning. They can be private, public, covens, groups or solitary.

Anyone wishing to join us in this process please feel free to contact me directly via email or on the Hail Columbia website.

Hail Columbia!

Over the last week or so I've been posting information that is related to several activities being worked on by several Christian groups in the US.

The main one in focus as of course Rick Perry's prayer vigil "The Response" that occurred in Texas yesterday, funded by the AFA which is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. This group is headed by Bryan Fischer, who has graced us with the following quotes:

"Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and six million dead Jews."
– Bryan Fischer Web post, "Homosexuality, Hitler, and ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell,'" 2010

"Many of the tribal reservations today remain mired in poverty and alcoholism because many native [sic] Americans continue to cling to the darkness of indigenous superstition instead of coming into the light of Christianity and assimilating into Christian culture."
– Bryan Fischer Web post, "Native Americans Morally Disqualified Themselves from the Land," 2011

"Welfare has destroyed the African-American family by telling young black women that husbands and fathers are unnecessary and obsolete. … We have incentivized fornication rather than marriage, and it's no wonder we are now awash in the disastrous social consequences of people who rut like rabbits."
– Bryan Fischer Web post, "Jesus Groomed His Apostles for Political Office," 2011


Governor Perry's Comments are below:




I've been in two different Pagan Groups that wanted to come together for a simliar action that's being put together in reference to the Dominionist. This group, along with Rick Perry and the DC-40 event show that there are groups within the Christian faith that are working with the political and finanicial backing to get their deeds done.

What are their deeds?

1. Remove all non-Christian government officials
2. Remove the first amendment
3. Establish a government based on biblical law

This would remove many of the freedoms that we enjoy today. Namely the right to follow a religion of our own choosing and the right NOT to follow a religion.

Should we take these groups and their actions seriously? I've had several comments come my way on this. I'm hearing from the, "Ignore them and they'll go away" camp. I've heard from the "Hex their britches off" group and of course the "Send them love and it will fix it" group.

It makes me wonder that if this same selection of people walked up on a witch burning would they argue about which was the best method to put out the fire. Would we rant back and forth about using water versus a blanket? Would we say to each other, no don't use that water its not a good choice?

In my opinion, any action that is conducted with a goal of freedom and equality for everyone would be the right action. Be it a fire hose or a blanket both will help put out the fire, we just have to use them.


On this note I've reached out to a group called "Hail Columbia". Their mission statement is this:

"Our mission is to distribute information and coordinate events throughout the United States to help re-affirm the idea set forth in our founding document: that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” These words, the first sixteen words of the First Amendment to the Constitution, help to create the diverse society that gives rise to new ideas, accepts new cultures, and remains flexible in the face of an increasingly complicated world."

I've signed up as the Coordinator for North Carolina and welcome my follow readers to head over to their page and give it a good read. If you're able to, volunteer. No matter what your religious practices are, this group is focused on preserving our First Amendment rights. This should be something that we can all get behind. For questions you can access the web page directly, the Facebook Page here, or contact me directly and I'll be happy to assist.

Namaste & Blessed Be
Sosanna
)O(

Retrograde - AGAIN


Yes my friends it's that time again. Mercury has gone into retrograde. Generally screwing up communications, travel, appointments and so on out the window. According to Rob Tillett on Astrology on the Web we'll have this wonderful environment in effect until August 26th.

So what does that mean? Misinformation, confusion, mental lapse to start out. Generally when Mercury goes into retrograde things go awry. The website Parker's Planets gives the example of George Bush's infamous landing on an aircraft carrier to declare victory in the war with Iraq as an example.

I tried searching the web for other examples of chaos while mercury is in retograde and found one web page that refers to events that happen while the it was in Leo. I'll share those just the same.


Here's a few examples from the 90's.

Public report released that 2/3 of underground waste dumps in Ontario, Canada, pose a threat to human health, 1986; Leo
NIH experts say most pain sufferers are either over or under-medicated, 1986; Leo
8 Soviet republics declare or re-affirm transitional or complete independence: Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, Moldavia, 1991; Leo
Australia, Scandinavian nations, European Community recognize new Baltic nations, 1991; Leo
Communist 74-year reign of USSR ended, 1991; Leo (SD)
Natural Resources Defense Council report that over 2000 US beaches were closed in 1991 because of raw sewage or other pollutants, 1992; Leo
Agreement by Czech and Slovak Republics to separate, 1992, Leo
Film of "Tailhook" sex abuse disclosed, 1992; Leo
Canadian study links drinking cows milk with juvenile diabetes, 1992; Leo
Chinese airliner explodes, killing 106, injuring 26, 1992; Leo
Iraq reasserts sovereignty over Kuwait, 1992; Leo
Chinese stock market riots; more than 1 million people involved, 1992; Leo (SD)


What can we do? Here's a few tips for surviving .....

Leave early for appointments, anything can happen to slow you down. Mercury governs travel and communication so when it retrogrades some of it's powers are diminished. Double check those directions, confirm appointment times and be sure that you have crossed your T's and dotted your I's.

On a personal note, hubby has a big job interview right smack dab in the middle of this whole business. As we all know you shouldn't sign on the dotted line, or begin new endeavors while Mercury is in retrograde. That being said, we know that if he does take this new job, we can expect changes in it.


I'm also spending this time preparing for spell work with a small group on this DC-40 business. I've made a blog post about it previously and won't go into it again right now. But for those interested in defending your right to religious freedom please feel free to contact me directly and help support the cause.

Namaste & Blessed Be
Sosanna
)O(

My First Group Circle

So this weekend I joined the Wilson Pagans in celebrating Lammas. Hubby & I had a wonderful time.

I have to make a few statements first. I've been a solitary for the past 20 years. About 6 years ago I stopped actively practicing. Just about a year or so ago I started up again. I've never been in a coven or involved in any organized pagan groups. In my adventures to pagan shops and joining groups online I found that adding a lot of others to the mix eventually led to the "My God is better than your God" discussion or "My Title is better than your Title" which was a major turn off so I avoided them like the plague.

Over the past two months I've attended some classes at Truely Unique in Wilson and have become much more comfortable with the owners there Kay and Osvaldo Soto. Kay invited hubby and I to the celebration on Saturday and I decided to fight my shyness and head over there.

At first it was a little scary. I am a wall flower. Not really social and completely filled with nervous energy. So of course I stuck out like a sore thumb. Hubby was overwhelmed with the amount of energy in the room. He felt completely at ease however with the people there and we listened to the chat around the room. There was discussion of politics and government as well as to the magical. The small house that is certainly unique was separated into rooms where we had divination going on with Tarot, Tea leaf readings and bone throwing. Another room which we use for class on occasion was set up for Reiki healing. The kitchen area, where we have herb class was arranged with chairs and tea for sipping and chatting.

It was over 104 degrees outside but this little house, full of people and energy stayed amazingly cool. I met several people, Misty (who makes an amazing vegan chocolate cake), James who seems to have the spirit of a Sprite living in his soulful eyes and Tina, without whom I would have never even found the little store. I joined Tina in helping keep the kids occupied by making corn cupcakes and playing hid the faerie with a small smurf figure Tina had. After the cupcakes, adults and kids alike took turns working with corn husks, bits of fabric, glitter and a glue gun to make corn dollies. We spent the time creating them with the intent of offering them back to the fire later that night.

As the day was moving along I was amazed at how many people could fit inside this tiny little store. We had dulcimer music by Mermaid Morrigan which was simply amazing. I picked up a CD and actually have it playing right now as I write this. We decided to let hubby take part in the readings as he's a complete skeptic and we wanted to see what he thought of my "new friends".

His review was wonderful, from Tarot to Tea and from cards to bones he had a wonderful time. The energy he got from the diviners was amazing. Our ride home on the motorcycle consisted of him giving me all the info he had received from them. Our headsets were busted so I couldn't speak only listen. That's probably the only way he was able to get a word in edgewise because we chatted, well ... he chatted the entire hour ride home about how much fun he had and about how talented this group actually was.

I couldn't elaborate on my experience, as I mentioned, busted mic on the headset. But when we finally got home I was able to tell him how powerful the circle was. Never having been in one myself I was a bit nervous about what to expect. At the introduction we were told that the person leading the circle was doing it for the first time as well. This made me feel a little more comfortable. At least I knew if I made a mistake, she would understand.

We lit a fire and called the quarters. We entered the circle and participated in a chant to draw energy into the circle. I held hands with people who just hours before were complete strangers to me. Yet, now, we were here all together participating in something very personal to each of us. And I felt a part of the family. We laughed, we sang, we had cakes and ale. And finally we closed the circle.

Feeling a little drained I assisted with cleanup just as the rain started. Hubby and I said our goodbyes and headed out down that hour drive home as the light misty rain parted and let the stars shine on our trip.

I felt absolutely amazing. I've contacted this group about becoming a member and plan to attend NC Pagan Pride with them. I will be attending more class's at Kay's place and hopefully given time and some of the future that the diviners presented to hubby, we will be here participating with this group for a while to come.

I hope everyone had as wonderful time as I did. And I thank this group for allowing me to come in and participate.


Namaste and Blessed Be

Sosanna
)O(