Attending PantheaCon

At the end of this week, I’ll be driving down to San Jose to attend PantheaCon. More specifically, I’ll be promoting my work in Women’s Voices in Magic and the writing/editing I do with Immanion Press/Megalithica. This is my first time attending this convention and I’m looking forward to meeting people and promoting my spirituality. If you’re attending PantheaCon, look me up. I’d love to chat and get together.

Click the Read More button to view the date/time/locations of the two panels I’m on.

Making art

Apparently writing a 50,000 word novel this month wasn’t enough for me or my creative muse. Last night I finally got around to finishing up a project that I had been slacking on for a few months now. During the summer I discovered a site that makes and sells stone and beaded bracelet-pendulums and thought it was a nifty idea. Even better was the fact that I already had many stones and beads laying around at home, like they were waiting for me to stumble upon this idea.

Beltane 2009

Beltane was spectacular this year. Overall it had a mellow energy, tinged with spurts of silly. Which was perfect for me and Kender. Our spot overlooked the Santiam River, the maypole dance (in the pouring rain) was hecka fun and I loved being able to connect to my community, fellow pagans and freaks. All hail Queen Jen and her King, Ogg. ‘Tis the year of Bellydancing and Booze!

Feeding Your Daemons when sick

I’ve been sick for the past 4 days. Last night, while in bed, I sorta broke down and cried a bit. I hate being sick. I hate feeling lousy, constantly not being able to breathe, and not being able to exert any control over getting things done in my life. I felt frustrated and helpless at the mercy of the plague in my chest.

That’s when I looked up and saw the book sitting on my shelf. Awhile ago, my friend Taylor recommended I get a copy of Feeding Your Demons to read and use. I read the book and it has certainly changed the way I look at healing myself and coming to terms with “dis-eases”. I have yet to make it a habit though because as soon as I felt ill, I should have broke out that book and gone over the five step process. Instead, it took me four days of feeling miserable before I even REALIZED that I should ask the plague what it wanted.

So before going to bed, I laid there with myself and the plague and asked it what it wanted. It appeared to me as a gooey, blob of grey crap in my chest. It wanted my life, to drown me and consume me. I didn’t like hearing that but I gave it as much of my life-force as I could actually give. And as sick as I was, it was not a whole lot. I continued to give this blob my life, hoping that if I gave it willingly, that it would loosen up and let go of my poor strangled chest.

The second part of this process is that you end up seeing the demon transformed into some sort of helper, after its been fed. As much as I fed this blob, I didn’t end up seeing my helper. Instead, a dinosaur/dragon appeared. This beast told me that it was not my helper but it was an intermediary between being sick and the final product. This beast would hunt the ick in my lungs down and chase it out of me. I thanked the beast for it’s help and allowed myself to drift off into sleep.

While I don’t feel 100% better today, I DO feel slightly better.

I got pulled

Corrine Kenner, of Tarot for Writers fame, emailed me today saying that she enjoyed my review of her book. She liked it so much that her publicist pulled a quote from it and put it on the book’s Amazon.com page. Locate my quote under the Editorial Reviews section as D*I*Y Planner. I feel honored. She also emailed me a sneak peek of the Tarot for Writers Workbook, a companion guide.

I saw a sign

Driving home from a magical group meeting on Friday I saw the strangest thing in the sky. A streak of green, then a speckled trail of gold entered the top right corner of my windshield. It seemed to come out of nowhere and lasted a few seconds. It was gone almost as quickly as it flickered into view.

I thought it to be the strangest single firework display I had ever seen. Then I mentioned it to kender (who got home around 11:30 from snowboarding) and he told me it was a comet. A google search later, I discovered that it may have been Comet Lulin, which had been passing by Earth during that time. I’m glad I saw it.

The Beltane Fire

A few months ago, me and my friend Michelle were at Bed, Bath, and Bondage (Beyond). We were shopping for a few kitchen utilities. I stumbled upon a box of “Everlasting Tealight Candles” and immediately had to have them. These tealight candles are watch-battery operated and perfect for leaving unattended in the outdoors. Which makes them perfect for festival camping. There were 26 or so in the box and I had visions of lights making a festival campsite cozy and inviting and fun. Not to mention visible when stumbling back to camp after a fun night of dancing, burning and laughing.

We used them, not all of them, but we DID use them during Beltane festival last weekend. I put two on the makeshift dining table; two sat on the table Ember brought with her; I put two in our hotel motel; and I gave one or two to Ember for her tent. They gave off some light Friday and Saturday and all was good.

Summer Spell of Creative Fire

Summer brings light and warmth. It strengthens our Will and ignites our passions. Summer’s association with Fire also means that it’s a time of new perceptions and creative endeavors. Perform this quick spell in summer when the light is out. It gives your Will and your projects a jolt of creative juice. Use it when you need to open yourself to creativity or when you’re stuck on a project or want to start something new.

Book: Garden Witchery Brings Fun Back to Garden Magick

By Ellen Dugan
Llewellyn Worldwide
ISBN 0-7367-0318-4

Garden Witchery brings fun back into the garden chores. Ellen Dugan, Master Gardener and witch has written a manual to delight anyone. Dugan writes as if she were speaking to you while wandering though her own garden. This book is extremely practical and fun to read. The stories and wisdom on her own gardening experiences sprinkled throughout the book help to illustrate and remind the reader that gardening is a process and mistakes happen. There aren’t many pictures in the book but it does contain some decorative illustrations and charts. As a new homeowner with a yard waiting to be sculpted, Garden Witchery got me excited about planting and making my gardens magickal.

Book: Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem & Metal Magic (2002 reprinting)

By Scott Cunningham
Llewellyn Worldwide
ISBN 0-87542-126-1

This book is THE definitive guide to working magic with crystals and gemstones. Scott Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem & Metal Magic presents a whole curriculum of working with stones and their meanings in this all-in-one reference “field guide”. The first few chapters cover the basics of stones and metals and gives a bit of magical background. He also shares how he collected some of his information and provides some tips for becoming a seasoned rock collector.

Cunningham then dives headfirst into the practical uses for stones and metals. First he explains how to buy stones and how to get the best deals, from haggling in swap meets to store purchases. An appendix in the back of the book lists a few select places to purchase stones. He also suggests ways to interact with stones by in how one selects, attunes and cleanses them. There is even a chapter devoted to divination and another on spells. The exercises are fun to do and do not require lots of pagan wisdom or background training. One could base an entire magical practice just on this book alone.

The rest of the book explores the different crystals, gems and metals. Cunningham divides these sections into two chapters. One contains crystals and gemstones, and the other has the metals. The sections are alphabetized by the rock’s and metal’s common names. For example, to find information on Bloodstones, you’d look the stone up with that familiar name. Cunningham also references the folk names of each item.

Each entry contains a list of stones and their associations to planets, colors, days, etc. followed by a quick summary of power associations. All this information is used to match the best stone or metal with what you intend to use it for. After these quick summaries, Cunningham goes into great detail and depth with his explanations on the magic and background lore of each. The center of the book contains a colorful guide displaying “best” examples of some of the stones. I found this color-inset useful as I was reading through the text and trying to grasp a mental image of what each and every stone looked like. A quick Reference Table follows these chapters summarizing all the book’s information.

Not all stones are covered in this book. Not all stones have the same information either. However, Cunningham does try to thoroughly cover each stone he does list with as much information about it as he can. Some stone lore includes ideas for healing with the stones; some include simple spells one can do with the stone. The book focuses solely on naturally occurring stones and metals; it does not cover man-made or dyed stones (like the Goldstone). I believe that this book should be included in the library of anyone who is interested in the spiritual aspects of stones and metals’ as the information contained is some of the best and most practical information on using stones and metals in magic on the market. I also believe that the lore and stories Cunningham provides for the stones also makes this book fun to read by anyone, not just pagans or witches.