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

Immanion Author Panel: What Next?
Sunday, February 14th @ 1:30 PM in the San Juan/San Carlos rooms
This weekend is dedicated to getting back to the basics. In pagan and magical traditions, the basics are often things that we use as foundations to build the more advanced parts of our practice. Join the attending Immanion Press authors, specialists in intermediate and advanced paganism and magic, as we discuss how to bridge the basics and what’s beyond, how to know what to take and what to leave behind, and how to forge one’s own path, both in the authors’ own traditions and in general.

Women’s Voices in Magic Panel: What’s Important?
Sunday, February 14th @ 7:00 PM in the Santa Clara room
This panel includes the editor and several authors of the Women’s Voices in Magic anthology. We’ll address questions such as what we feel is important to our magical lives, what we believe are good basics of magic topics, and whatever questions the audience has for us.

My bracelet uses tiger’s eye beads from a broken bracelet, some smaller hematite beads bought for this project, silk string, a hook clasp, and a piece of amethyst stone that needed some TLC. I found some instructions on wire wrapping that I really liked and printed out a few examples to keep in front of me while designing my own version.

I spent an hour practicing the wire wrap technique using two different sizes of wire, 20 and 26 gauge, before settling on the thinner style. In hindsight I wish I had used my 20 gauge wire but that’s okay. Thin wire is not easy to work with and I ended up having kender solder some of the wrapping portions to keep the stone snug in it’s cradle.

The bracelet fits snugly around my right wrist and is relatively easy for me to put on and take off. I have yet to try the pendulum part out yet, but I am looking forward to doing so. First, I need to learn how to really use and empower the stones, I think.

Go check out all the images of my first attempt at wire wrapping and jewelry making in my gallery. You can also enlarge those images there to see the details better.

Of course, it took a lot of planning and packing to get started. I was at CA on Wednesday, helping the code team get their manuals in shape. At the last hour, Flare had a major manual meltdown which caused me to panic because I had no idea how long it was going to take to fix. I ended up rebuilding one Table of Contents, outputting three manuals, and finally… done. Once they were checked in, Kender and I rushed outta the warehouse to hit Whole Wallet and then home for packing.

Kender packed all the gear as I gathered all the toys and clothes I wanted to bring. I took the usual things: my camp ritual toys, the Queen’s gift, my tarot deck, 3 tarot books and 2 journals. It never fails that I’ll pack a box of fun things with me and NEVER get to play with it all. But I know I need these things… they give me a sense of home. When it comes to clothes, I always have a hard time with the “lighter sabbats”. You see, most of my clothing runs on the dark side. I laid everything out, showed Kender and pouted at the lack of color. His response, “Of course you don’t have many frilly colors, yer a GOTH!” Which is so very true but at Beltane, I find that I want color. And lots of it too. When it was all done, I took a long, hot bath and went to bed.

We woke up around 7am Thursday. Got dressed and got ice for the car and left home around 8am. First stop, getting Ember and coffee. Then the caravan set out, making good time. I love the drive down to Detroit Lake as we go from flat to hills to mountains. Upon entering the camp area, we found ourselves behind a familiar car. Green, with a gray “hamburger box” resting on top. Only one person we know owns that set up: FWAP. I opened the gate and let the cars in. The air felt soo good on my face and the excitement of the first festival of the 2009 season rushed through me.

I was worried that we’d not get a good spot and was happy to see that I was wrong. Hardly anyone arrived early so we had our pick of most of the river spots. This year we choose site 14, which opened up to the river. As in… you could SEE it from our spot. It was quite a lovely sight. We unpacked the two cars and set to work to make the site home. Once that was done, we wandered down to the other sites to see who was there. Saw a lot of familiar faces and got a lot of good hugs. I also noticed that a lot of folks had new campers this year. It’s always fun to see how festivals change as the years go on.

The main fire area was just getting set up. A few guys were dumping logs into the long pit and I noticed a box sitting in between some of them. “What’s in the boooox?” I begged. James, with a mischievous smile, proudly announced that it housed a special cocktail of “thirteen flares and a few chunks of magnesium.” He figured it would not only help kickstart the fire but it would make it shiny. And boy was it shiny. And bright. And HOT!

Drums began to show up around the fire and we went and got our drum and my firekit for the evening. I plan on turning Kender into a drummer. He’s less anxious if he’s got something in his hands to keep them busy and dammit, the boy loves music. I gave him my drum and kept his mug full of “Second from the Left” beer to keep him calm and happy. Once it got dark enough, I broke out the fire poi. Swinging felt so good. I love performing in front of the community. Everyone cheers and is so appreciative. The energy was very mellow and lowkey that night. We left after awhile for hot, cozy fire plus an early wake-up makes for a tired inno.

Woke up early Friday, after not getting much sleep. Cold weather and excitement keep my body slightly awake. Had a wonderful egg/bacon breakfast and good conversations. Ember and I decided that we wanted to spend the day doing tarotwork and journalling. So we got dressed in festival clothes and went to go find a perfect spot in the sun to commune with our arts. Of course, just as we found one, Tig runs up to us and lets us know that the Women’s Scrapbooking Mysteries was going to start in a few minutes. So, we packed our stuff up and toddled off to write pages for the “year in review” book.

That evening, the bellydancing group put on a fun “naughty and nice” dance (complete with whips). And when they were done I decided to play with my glowstick poi as Kender and the others drummed away. Some folks watched me dance, asking me questions, which sort of convinced me to actually go light up the fire poi. I dunno what happened but as soon as they wooshed up with fire, I instantly got nervous. And it wasn’t like I got nervous from dancing in front of an audience. This was new, and intense and deeper. Shaking, I went through my moves slowly and carefully, hoping that the feeling would shake off. It didn’t but I finished the dance without incident.

I got back to our spot at the fire and got compliments from many people. Jen told me that I improved since the last time she saw me swing. I’m more fluid and my moves have a better transition. Grim told me that I was great and good enough for the Burningman Confluence group. Hearing that made my night. I’ve never thought of myself as being that good. Hell, I usually think I’m the lamest dancer around, my right arm is weak and usually doesn’t do what I want it to do. I feel like I have a long way to go in really dancing with the fire. So hearing others tell me how “awesome” I am really cheers me up about it all. As we chatted more around the fire, I grabbed my drum and tried to get something going, but couldn’t. Ended up beatboxing a bit with Ember because while my hands couldn’t beat something out, my mouth could keep cool beats. Soon after, the rains came and everyone scattered. Went to bed feeling rather proud of myself and loved.

The weather continued its gradual, downward slope Saturday. Once again, mostly because of the rain, I got little sleep. Hearing rain droplets drip off the side of our ubartent for hours upon hours gives me a feeling of waterboarding. Hung around the small communal fires and had a lovely breakfast of french toast (Thanks Zira!). I wore my skirt and jingly belt for ritual, even though I bundled up under a longsleeve shirt, jacket and hat.

The rains made this year very interesting. It was hard to dig the hole when no one wanted to get dirty, and when we danced the maypole the rains “pissed down” on us. I loved it as it made things a bit more chaotic and keep the energy on an even level. The men came back with the pole, many stark naked (which was a pleasant sight for us women). Kender and I danced the pole together, putting our energy into it. We also grabbed our Yellow ribbons together, running the full length of the fabric. And we danced the pole together! He thought it was fun but silly (cos it was raining so hard). I loved it, I totally got into the rhythm of “over, under, over, under, top, botttom, topsies, bottomsies, etc”. and made a game of it.

We broke for dinner before picking the new Queen in the hopes that the rain would calm down. It did a bit, but it was still wet. When we got to the campsite we found that either the wind (or the energy we raised) had slammed into Ember’s two room tent and moved it into itself. It was quickly righted right away. After dinner, we went back down to the maypole and watched Queen Char select her replacement. Each drew a lovely feather, wrapped in leather. Jen, who held a white feather, was crowned our Queen. Then she picked Ogg as her consort because she is a brew master and he likes her beer. It’s going to be a great year for the community and I can’t wait to see what they come up with.

Then we went into the temple to give gifts to Queen Jen and words of wisdom. Lots of jokes and laughter went on during that time. I had a great time connecting to the women and hearing the stories they had to offer. The rains came again and this time they didn’t stop. So the evenings festivities weren’t as wild as they normally tend to be. We made a short appearance at the fire (sans drum and firekit) to warm ourselves up and to celebrate the new crowning. I danced a bit and wiggled around Kender. Then we decided to head back to the tent. As I wanted to perform a Beltane tarot ritual. The cards, as always, had some good advice and was rather spot on. I now have a lot to think about for this upcoming year.

Spent most of Sunday morning packing and saying goodbye to everyone. But we did manage to get a chunk of the maypole. We even sawed it ourselves. The drive home was spent in reflection and silence. I felt sad leaving but feel more connected to myself, the land, and the community. I’m very much looking forward to the Garden Party and the Fall Equinox “Dracula’s Ball” festival that Tig’s putting on. With luck, I may get to help out with it. Which would rock.

The only downer of the festival came when we dug the yoni. Every February, when we get the email invite for Beltane, Kender and I struggle through a dance of, “Do you want to go to Beltane and will you be okay?” We spend hours talking about how uncomfortable it makes him. He doesn’t feel like he fits in with many of the energies present. He’s not comfortable with going out to get the pole, so this year I suggested that he help dig the hole with us women. After all, he does seem to carry more goddess energy than even I have. So, he bravely stayed with us and set to work on helping dig the 4 foot deep hole.

However, some folks didn’t feel the same way. They “didn’t want penis” around while the yoni was being dug. I found out later that some people assumed that he (as well as another man) were there without having gone through a basic “majickal etiquette” lesson. Which pissed me off a bit because he HAS had that training and that EVERY YEAR we spent MONTHS discussing Beltane and how it makes him feel. And JUST as we had this major breakthrough this year, someone had to go off and undo years of work. Grrr… so much for open mindedness this year. Next year, if anyone says anything… I’m going to stand up for my boy and say a few choice words myself. As I should have done that this year but didn’t.

Other than that incident, I feel that we had a wonderful Beltane festival. Kender did really good with his anxieties and I can only hope that next year will be twice as awesome! Long live Queen Jen and King Ogg. May your reign bring you lots of insight and happy times.

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 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.

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.

Kender decided to stay at camp Saturday night. He’s not into the big bonfires. So Ember, her friend, and I hung out with the community, our new Queen and King. We were warm by the fire and watched the antics and swapped stories. It was a good, mellow evening. Later on, I wandered back to our campsite and Kender had made a fire in our makeshift fire pit. Going into the tent, he also had taken some of these Everlasting Tealights and made a heart out of them. For me. They were sitting on my bedroll. It was perfect and very much a loving surprise.

We had to “put the lights out” before going to bed. Except, this one candle refused to go out. I clicked the switch and expected it to dim, but it refused. Clicked it again and still nothing. So, instead of ticking off the “everlasting tealight goddess” we decided to leave it on. A nightlight of sorts. I placed it on our altar table where it could “dance” the night away.

It was still burning when we packed it up with its sleeping brothers and sisters the next day.
It was still burning when I unpacked the box when we got home.

It still burns where I have it sitting on our kitchen counter. The light… refuses to go out. Today is Beltane proper. And when I left for work an hour ago, it was still glowing. I’ve decided that this little fake candle, this battery operated toy, is our Beltane Fire. The fire of our passion, of the seeds of ideas and hearth and community, that will grow throughout the year. The fire of the change in weather.

The package claims the candles “burn” for 120 hours, but I think it’s been longer than that by now.

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Happy Beltane everyone!

Items needed:

• A piece of Tiger’s Eye (small enough to carry or wear)
• Vervain or other inspiring incense of your choice
• Blue candle (blue inspires and helps the flow of creativity)

Arrange the above items on your altar. Place the tiger’s eye in front of the candle, where you can focus your eyes on it. Light the blue candle and burn the incense. Ground and center yourself. Think about what creativity means to you, and how you want it to manifest in your life. Build that energy up and place your hands on the stone, letting the energy flow from you to it. As the energy flows, say the following chant:

Summer sun burns bright,
Summer light shines all night.
This fire ignites my creative wire.
My will from mind to stone
Creativity this summer shall I own.
So Mote it be.

Let the candle burn down when you are done. Carry or wear the charged tiger’s eye with you when you want more creativity or need that jolt to spur your muse into action.

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.

The book opens with gardening basics. While she lives down south, Dugan presents her gardening wisdom as generically as possible. This section includes a copy of the US Hardiness Zones chart that explains how to pick the best plants according to the weather. Some might find such practicality odd to include in a pagan-themed book. But Dugan points out that gardening and planting is fun and very magickal. She shows readers how to plan their garden, select plants and which ones to avoid. Plants, flowers, herbs and trees are discussed equally in the book. She explains that a magickal garden doesn’t need to include exotic and expensive flowers, or flowers that aren’t native to the area. Instead she invites the reader to look outside and within their local area to see what it has to offer their magickal gardens.

She includes a chapter devoted to different types of gardens that focus magickal energy into different intentions. Shade gardens, cottage gardens, moon gardens, faerie gardens and more. Dugan makes each garden magickal by listing a “witches dozen” listing of plants one can add to their garden. She also gives spell and ritual suggestions for each garden. The plants in Garden Witchery are chosen for their “witchyness” as well as their ease to plant, locate and grow. Like the circle of life, Dugan teaches that with garden magick, everything is interconnected.

Dugan starts imbedding her magickal knowledge by sharing her ideas on planting correspondences tables. She believes that the seasons, time of day and the day you choose to plant something affects the plants, their blooms, and the magick you can draw from them. Then she relates all those correspondences back to the lists of plants and trees the book contains. The spells, rituals, simples and other crafty examples all draw from the plants she includes in the book. The book includes an entire chapter written about the art of florigraphy (the meaning of flowers) and flower lore. Then she ties the magick back into a whole garden by giving the reader ideas on how to construct their own Garden Book of Shadows and spells.

The book ends with a garden journal for the reader to record his or her own thoughts. However, I found that it’s not the end of what the book has to teach. After having read this book I found that I became more knowledgeable and aware of the soil my yard has. I also know more about what plants I do currently own and can get to incorporate into my spells and rituals. Garden Witchery helped me see the value and fun in planting and keeping gardens.

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.