Bloody Wicked!

Just putting up a quick post about a giveaway a friend of mine is doing on her blog, Pagan Culture. It is the Witches In Fiction Party celebrating the second year anniversary of her blog. Go to the link below, and follow the directions she has listed to enter. And, good luck! Click Here To Enter.

THINGS TO CHECK OUT!

Everyday I see new sites, blogs, and items that I think you witchy boys and girls should check out. Sooooo, this page will be dedicated to those things. As I find more stuff, I will add them here. Check back frequently, cause I will be adding stuff weekly.




Pagan Culture

Handcrafted BOS by Witches Moon

Voodoo Tarot - I love this set. I use it ALL the time. Beautiful artwork, deeper meanings than standard Tarot cards.

Tarot Witch of the Black Rose - Best comic ever! Bout time someone showed witches in a positive light. Artwork is amazing in this thing.

School Bites - Created by Holly GoLightly, Mistress of Color for Tarot Witch of The Black Rose, and better half of Jim Balent, creator of Tarot.

The Ties That Bind

I have always been one of those people that found the institution of marriage to be something that was completely unnatural to human nature. You see so many people meet, fall in love, get married, and then a few years into their marriage, get tired of each other, or cannot work past their issues then part ways and move on to the next. So, it completely threw me for a loop when I married my college sweet heart. I was quite happy with him. I liked our relationship the way it was, but because of the "moral values" instilled in me and most of Western society, I felt I needed to marry him in order for our relationship to be validated by everyone else around us. So, we planned to have a handfasting, but because of both of our religious upbringings, we knew that was not going to fly with our families. Then, because of unfair pressure from my mother, we ended up eloping to get her off of our backs. Let's just say we have both agreed that THAT was the biggest mistake of our lives. One because we didn't have the ceremony/celebration that we wanted, and for me personally because we were legally tied to each other, and I felt like the cell doors had been closed on me and the key thrown away. Why couldn't we have had the courage, the back bone of Goldie Haan and Kirk Douglas to say "Fuck the world," and be with each other in a way that made US truly happy, and not everyone else happy?

In the beginning, when I was researching handfasting I saw that the people who originally used this ceremony for binding a couple together gave them a way to part ways if things were no longer loving between them. And that was a hand-parting. Now, we have legal separations, or outright divorces (let me just insert a note here, that the State of Texas does not have legal separation, they only have divorce). With all of the issues that me and my husband have had over the years, we have on more than one occasion wanted to find a way to separate from each other without having to go through the legal turmoil of a divorce, but with few options offered to us living in this ultra conservative state, we were only left with hundreds of dollars in counseling, and trying to work past our issues to get to the point where we are now.

The present day condition of our society makes it more obvious to me that we need to take some pointers from those who lived before us. Because they lived in a more balanced state with nature, and the cycles of nature, they understood that not everything lasts forever, and that sometimes, you just need to shed those things that have gone bad or died, and move forward. But because we are so set on how things should be, to fulfill our own warped sense of what the Divine wants for us, we are forcing our bodies, spirits, and hearts to be in a constant state of stagnation that in the long run is not healthy at all.

Now, almost 10 years since we said our "I do's," we are renewing our vows, and planning the wedding we never had. While I am excited about the big event, I am also acutely aware of the fact that this will bind us together even further. And while this has me screaming on the inside, I see this as a new start. We are having our handfasting this time around, and I know that if things really start to decline again between us, we will be able to part ways knowing that we loved each other enough to start over, and to give our relationship the due respect and chance to blossom the way it should have, naturally and in its own time...and the parting of ways between us won't be one made in anger and hatred towards each other, but in love and mutual respect.


Blessed Be.

Mainstream Society Meet Main Stream Witchcraft

While I was living in Atlanta (which seems like ages ago), My hubby and I would frequent a comic book store called Oxford Books. They had everything from the comics we grew up with, figurines, anime, role playing
games, trading card games, and "adult themed" comics. One night we were bored and being adventurous, and wandered into the adult section of the store. While browsing the very interesting titles and artwork, I came across this one comic with a tall, large breasted, flame haired witch on the cover. Not being able to take my eyes off the cover, I noticed that the title said, " Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose." I immediately picked up the issue, and followed my husband with his arm full of Marvel comics to the register.

It was almost 10:00 at night, pitch black outside except for the street lights, and I was sitting in the car completely enthralled by the story line, the myriad of colors, the creatures, and even further, that this comic was showing witches in a positive light. It discussed aspects of the craft that I was practicing, it was talking about the issues that witches face on a daily basis, and it made me feel more...normal.

That following week, I went back to Oxford and bought 5 issues, got them home immediately and read each issues from cover to cover non-stop. When the SU (Spousal Unit) got home, I quickly told him everything I read, how it made me feel. How the creators of this marvelous comic brought the real witchcraft to light to the public and showed how it is a valid spiritual practice, how we have rights just any anyone else does in the major world religions, and how they discuss and completely destroy the stereotypes that are out there about me and others like me. The only thing he could do was chuckle, kiss the top of my head, and say he is glad I found something I liked.

From that day forward each month, I made sure to get a new issue to not only get a much needed bit of entertainment, but also to learn more about myself and my spiritual path, but also how the world around me copes with things that they fear because they don't understand.

Long story short, the creators Jim Balent and his wife/mistress of color, Holly GoLightly are now my favorite comic book artists, favorite witches, and my FB friends. Check out their stuff at Jim Balent Studios.

Also, check out Holly's comic School Bites. It's about a girl turned vamp against her will, but now learning how to live and love as a hot vamp chick in this world and in hers.

Blessed Be, Everyone!

The Goddess Really Does Listen

Ok. So as most of you know, I am planning my big wedding for next year, and the expense of that will be nothing to sneeze at. But, what is little known (except to those in my inner circle) is that I am trying to buy a new car. Because my children are growing, and we just need a larger car, we have been trying to start allocating money to be able to get a car by this fall.

Now, with that said, I have been virtually biting my nails to the nub working and reworking financial calculations in my head to see the best way to accomplish both of these goals without causing us to have to skimp on one or the other. And the closer it gets to June, when we need to start finalizing which venue we will be using, the more stressed I have been getting. So, last week sometime I was stressing as usual, and I believe I prayed for a way financially for at least a part of this to work out. What happened next had me wide eyed, and on my knees last night at my altar, candles lit, and sending a prayer of thanks with a heart full of gratitude and love.

Yesterday, we went to go visit my in-laws and to let them have a chance to visit with their grand-kids. We sat around for a good bit, not much said, ended up leaving because my 20-something, immature sister in-law, who just had a baby pissed my husband off to the n-th degree. As we were walking out, his dad asked us if we would consider taking over the payments on his 2010 Honda CR-V that he bought just last year because he was close to retirement, on a fixed income, and getting ready to start his own business and need that money to put towards it. Now, even though I wasn't showing it, I was jumping up and down and doing my version of the Snoopy dance. We basically just got offered to take his car. No contracts no nothing. Just make the payments, and the car would be switched over into our name. Did I mention that this particular car was the model I was looking at for the past year? This solved ALL of our issues with these two major expenses. I now have a new car to start using before my little man starts kindergarten this year, and we didn't have to cut our wedding budget to get this much needed item to do it.

Last night as I sat on bended knee, I was almost on the verge of tears from happiness. Even though I did not have the offerings I would have like to have left to the Goddess in her form as Yemoja, I felt my meager gift of fresh cool water over the shells given to me by a friend from a beach in Jamaica was well appreciated, and accepted. And I prayed that she kept guiding me so that more things like this would happen for me and my family.


Blessed Be.