SeaHeart

This Wednesday being Samhain (Halloween for all those crazy kids who don't wear pentacles and "Goddess Loves Me" shirts), I'm priestessing the FIRST EVER Samhain ritual at our Unitarian Universalist church. I orchestrated a Yule ritual there, and a very short and sweet Mabon ritual before our First! Annual! Mabon potluck, but they were both Pagan lite, in the sense that these were introductions to Pagan rituals for the congregation. This Wednesday will be the first ever COMPLETE Pagan ritual, which everyone seems to be super excited about. <3 This is what I wrote-up for our church newsletter:

Open Samhain Ritual -- The Beloved Dead
It was believed by ancient peoples--and still is by modern Pagans--that Samhain (Halloween) is the day of the year when the veil between worlds is thinned, and our loved ones who have passed on come to visit us again. Come and take part in a ritual that honors those loved ones who have gone before you, hallowing out a time and space in your life for magic. This will be a full Pagan ritual, including circle casting, Goddess invocation and a meditation. Please bring an image or trinket that reminds you of the loved one you miss most.

Samhain, I believe, is one of the most perfect Sabbats for non-Pagans to get super involved with. Everyone has a person or pet who has gone beyond, who they miss, and everyone understands the idea of honoring those who have gone before us. About a half hour before the ritual, I'm going to explain all of the building blocks of ritual--why we do it, and why we do each piece of the ritual itself. There are several people in the congregation who have been wanting to become Pagan, and several who are just open-minded awesome people, who want to be involved in meaningful rituals, so it's a very varied group. I'm so excited that people are so enthusiastic about this, and have a couple of surprises and magical ideas so that everyone carries something away from this, hopefully.

Jenn and I are both so blessed in the fact that our pastor, Lee, is so impassioned on how he backs up everything we want to do in the church. He *wanted* more Pagan involvement, and has asked me to do these things, when I showed interest in priestessing there. Everyone is so interested and supportive of our ideas, and backs us 110%. Sometimes, it makes me a little misty-eyed when I talk about our church family, and how deeply entrenched they are in our lives and hearts. We're more blessed than I could articulate. <3

So yes! Samhain! Open ritual! Lots of candles and cider and drums and magic! I can't wait. <3

~*~

I don't cook very much during the summer months because of how SATANICALLY HOT our house gets when it's hot outside. :D But cooking is one of my favorite things in the world, when I actually have five minutes in which to do it. And cooking in CROCK POTS is my FAVORITE. <3 I just whipped up a vegan pot pie in our slow cooker. SORCERY. Crock pots were invented by All of the Gods at the annual God Consortium one day, because they were like: HUMANS. THEY NEED SOMETHING AWESOME IN THEIR LIVES. And lo, verily, the crock pot was BORN. I know lots of people think crock pots are for old ladies with blue hair, but it is ALSO for YOUNGER LADIES with PINK AND PURPLE HAIR and everyone else, too.

C'mon folks. LET'S BRING CROCK POTS BACK. Like SEXY. But with more CARBOHYDRATES, surely. I will even give you my secret, super-duper crock pot recipe for my SORCERY Pot Pie:

( SORCERY and RECIPE this WAY )

The Fable Tribe Halloween update is tonight! The witching hour of 8 PM (EST) draws ever closer, and the veils have parted--you can now see the update preview at our Flickr!

Haunting hair flowers, Victorian Halloween Glamourkins (and Crystal Glamourkins!), and Samhain Blessing Bowls for your magical workings this Hallow's Eve (or to decorate your home with sacred intention this October). ♥

The ENTIRE UPDATE will go live when the clock strikes eight! ♥

See the update preview at our Flickr!

- Last night, Jenn and I went with Hugh and Jer (and two of Jer's awesome friends) to the live Rifftrax screening of House on Haunted Hill. It was so great, oh my. XD For every major holiday (and even for some none-major), they do live screenings at certain movie theaters across the country, riffing movies like they used to do in their old MST3K days. It is still brilliance--and, perhaps, even better now (and I'm one of the biggest MST3K fans alive!). If you ever have a chance to see a live screening, do it! It's totally worth it, wickedly hilarious and positively awesome. :) Last year, we saw a bunch of Christmas shorts live, and it was just as great. I'm hoping they do one for Yule again~!

- It's totally silly and cheesy, but one of our Halloween/Samhain traditions is a visit to Holiday Hollow, which we saved to do for this Halloween weekend. I'm so sad that they're closed tomorrow--the only day we could do it. ;-; What will Halloween be like without the great pumpkin quest?! (Jenn will probably be endlessly relieved--the show changes very little, year over year, and she's always like...yay?...when I'm like WE SHOULD GO THIS WEEKEND! :D)

- So, instead, we'll probably go to the Great Pumpkin Farm Pumpkin Festival tomorrow, before...

- Maddie's annual Halloween party! :) Maddie, Jenn and I are Three Witches this year...my sister is going to be Lady Gaga, with all that entails. XD Yes, there will be many pictures.

- This is what I'm dressed up as, for work today!



( A few more! There's a surprise under the hat! :D )

- (Can you tell this is my favorite holiday? Naaaaaaaaaah~ :P)

- Our house is decorated to the nines (you can see a few pictures here!). But, my favorite thing that I wanted to share was the window display at our local cloth-work store (they sell counted cross stitch and quilting supplies, and the ladies are AMAZING--as evidenced by this window display. :P). Here is the stuff nightmares are made of (he also has an evil twin!:



- Our Samhain celebration is all day Sunday--we're going to hike at Allegany State Park--one of the most haunted places in the region (I know I've talked about that place before here--it's one of my favorite parks in the world, and it's so very steeped in ancient Native American lore, stories and ghostly encounters. I love it with all my heart~), culminating with a feast at our house, and a beautiful ritual. I can't wait~ <3

- On Sunday, Samhain, is my eleventh anniversary of my dedication as a Witch. :) Oh, blessed Mother--thank You these years, most amazing. <3

- Whatever your plans this weekend, whatever celebrations or sacred or spooky things you'll do, whatever you may spell or conjure--may it be wonderful~ <3333 Happy Halloween! Blessed Samhain! <33333

The Obligatory Explanation:
To those new on my friends list - I *adore* perfume oils. I consider my body to be a temple, and I perfume it accordingly~ Perfume oils to me are part ritual/part magic, and the heady scents and bewitching fragrances of autumnal blends make me giddy~ That being said, I have several favorite perfume oil places... but probably my all TIME favorite is Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - or BPAL for short. Every year they create a Halloween themed update... Autumn is the highlight of my year, and somehow they capture the magic and deep beauty of the turning leaves, pumpkins on the porch and mist filled nights of stars.

The Halloween update came out--appropriately--today, it being Friday the 13th, and all~ ;D

- The Halloween update is here
- An awesome decant circle is here
- And if the above decant circle fills, there are five million forming at sinandsalvation

("Imps" are BPAL perfume samples that people collect and trade...a decant circle contains imps that are decanted and sent out by a central person to people who join and pay for sections of the decant circles...so you can choose the perfumes you think you might like and get samples to try them. :))

The reason the above decant circle is wonderful is that you can buy HALF imps of perfume. That's a very small amount, but I already have so many perfumes, and not all work on me--I'd rather try a few, and find the one or two that are perfect...this is the approach I did last year that worked wonderfully. :) Also, in the interest of minimalism, I'll use these up very quickly instead of having imps and imps and imps around from many Halloween pasts. XD Which, you know, I already have.


The Ones I Picked This Year:
The soundtrack of scent for my Autumn~:

Odd Portents
Black rose, olibanum, dark musk, myrrh, blackcurrant, lavender buds,
bourbon geranium, and amber incense.

It sounds practically perfect in every way. I think that with the myrrh and blackcurrant, especially, this might be a winner.

The Hag
Black musk, bay leaves, galangal, bourbon vetiver, blackcurrant, and rum.

This is a very, very dark scent, but I'm very lucky with those, usually--when they warm up on my skin, they turn bright and spicy. I hope this one will, too!

Nothing Gold Can Stay
Dewy green leaves colored by Moroccan amber, ginseng, and rooibos.

Amber is very happy on me, paired with the rooibos, I think this might be a warm-tea-ish scent--I hope so!

October 2010
Dry, cold autumn wind. A rustle of red leaves, a touch of smoke and
sap in the air.

The perennial classic. I use up my imp every year~

Pumpkin Latte
Espresso, pumpkin syrup, smoky vanilla bean, milk, raw sugar, and a
dash of cinnamon and nutmeg.

Oh my. I might die and go to heaven wearing this. XD

The Wild Swans At Coole
October twilight. Falling leaves breaking the stillness of cool water,
with sweet autumn clematis, feather-soft orris root, luminous white
chypre, and muguet.

This scent reminds me of one of my (arguably) favorite songs by Loreena McKennitt, whose albums are my soundtrack of autumn--it also sounds like it will dry down perfectly.

Pomegranate III
Pomegranate, Tamil Nadu sandalwood, lavender, tamarind, hazelnut,
Atlas cedarwood, sugar date, bitter clove, and Arabian myrrh.

A pomegranate grove instead of a pumpkin patch? I can live with that--almost. ;D As it is, they all sounded brilliant--this one sounds perfect.

Tell me what you decided on~! Let's talk happy, beautiful autumn things. :) I'm so excited about the shifting of the seasons. Already, some of the leaves are beginning to leave the bright green of summer...it's coming, she's coming. And soon. <3333