What The Bones Say - Chapter 2

Running to the consultation room with items in hand, Angel put them down and helped to move the heavy oak table to the side room.

“This thing weighs a flippin’ ton!”

“Stop whining and hurry. We need to get this circle cast, and get this house cleared.”

“Hurry? Are you not feeling how heavy this thing is? Or have your Wonder Woman powers kicked in?”

Celeste tsked at her and rolled her eyes. With the table finally moved, they worked in unison. Sprinkling the room with holy water, reciting the 23^rd Psalms, and then sending prayers to the loas for their help.

“I’ll be right back.”

“Hun we don’t have time we need to start now.”

“We also need something to get a reading. I’m grabbing the bones, since those are the only thing that have not been incinerated…yet.”

“I have an onyx pendulum in here. We can use that.”

Ignoring her, Angel ran to the kitchen and turned around to start heading back to the consultation room when a wave of dark energy hit her like a brick wall. Collapsing on all fours , she wretched uncontrollably.

“Angel, hun? Come on we don’t have…Bon Dieu!”

As Celeste ran to help her friend, she was knocked back and slammed into the living room wall by the same dark energy.  Grabbing her head and trying to control the buzzin in her ears, “Angelique…oooouch? Are you ok?”

“Yeah, just got the wind knocked out of me. What about you?”

“Got the black knocked of my fine ass, but other than that, I’m just peachy, sweety.”

Both of them let out a tight bitter laugh, but it did help to relieve some of their tension.

“Can you come towards me? Can you make it back to where I am?”

Angel, tried to get up on her feet but her stomach was still lurching from the foulness of the energy that was swirling all around her. “I’ll try.” She crawled on all fours taking it slow, inch by inch, until she reached Celeste.  Sliding down against the wall next to her, she took in a deep breath, centered  herself and drew down a beam of white protective healing light to encircle herself first, then extend around them both. Grabbing Celeste’s hand, power arched between them and the bubble of light solidified like a crystal. For now they were safe. For now they could rest and think.

“Ok. So what’s the plan?”

“Je ne sais pas, ma cher. I just don’t know. But, I know that we have to get to the consultation room. Get that protection circle erected and get some answers.”

“Why not do it here?”

“Hell to the nah! Are you forgetting what just happened or, what happened earlier? I am not about to become a human lightening rod in here because of those things. “

Looking down at the leather bag sitting  in her lap, Angel knew that their chance of making it to the consultation room was slim to none right now, and their best bet was to do the reading there.  Why not do the reading here? We are in a protective bubble. If we can get at least some information as to what is going on then that will give us a better shot at resolving this issue. She had made up her mind.

“I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna do the reading in here.”

“Have you lost your goddamned mind?!!”

“Think, C-. We are in a protective circle…of sorts. The negative energy that was affecting them out there might not affect them in here. “

Celeste looked at her friend with doubt, then finally gave in.

“Fine, but if I get electrocuted to death, and you survive, I am coming back to haunt yo’ ass.  Hope the men you bring to your bed enjoy voyeurism.”

“Just plain nasty”

“Oui, that I am. And proud of it!”

Fear shining brightly in both of their eyes, they give each other a hug and set to work.

“Ok, let’s do this. This bubble is tight as all hell, and I have got to pee like a friggin’ horse.”

“TMI…t.m.i.”

“What’s a little sharing of personal bodily functions between friends?”

“Refer to the first fucking statement.”

Maneuvering around so they were facing each other, legs crossed, they crossed their wrists and grabbed each other hands.  Focusing their energy, a gold thread wound around them like the infinity symbol getting larger and brighter, extending the crystallized bubble to make more room for them and push back the darkness that  was on the outside slithering over their refuge trying to find a way to get at it’s prey. The light they generated was warm, loving, and sparkled with the purity of bon Dieu.

“K. I think we’re good. Let’s get this over with.”

“Agreed.”

Angel emptied the contents of the protective bag out into her hand this time the bones did not feel electrified, they thrummed like a strong heart beating in an athlete’s  chest.  Hello my loves. She thought.

“Papa Legba! I call to you we need the door way open, we need to see what can not be seen. Show us the hidden truth.”

The bones were thrown in between them. They bounced and rattled around what seemed like an eternity. Then finally an answer…ALL strong no’s.

“Merde! Cher, that is no good. No good at all.”

“Really? I hadn’t figured that one out.”

“Hey, no need to get pissy with me.”

Angel sighed, “I know. Sorry. But this is the last thing I needed to see.”

“Roll them again. Not sure if it will make much of a difference, but it doesn’t hurt to try.”

The bones were rolled once more. And much as they had expected, they got the same answer.

“Ok, we are going about this the wrong way. We already know that we got big, bad, and definitely ugly out there causing all hell to break loose, but we need to know why.”

“True dat, sweety. So what we need to be asking is who is doing this and why.”

“I knew I kept you in my life for a reason.”

“Well one out of the two of us has to be the brains of this operation.”

Angel playfully punched her best friend in the arm. She was right. They needed to know who and why. So the bones were rolled asking if what was trying to harm them had to do with Angel’s dream. A strong yes. Was it the thing in her dream that was causing the this mess? A strong no. Was it someone connected to the thing chasing her in the dream? A strong yes. Last question…was it someone she knew?

The bones bounced and then did something she had never seen before, they up ended and spun and spun, without stopping. They heard a crack and looked up. Their protective barrier was weakening.

“Fuck! What now?!”

“Grab those things and put them back in the bag.

Angel tried to grab them and they shocked her.  “Ouch!” shaking her hand , she turned the bag inside out and grabbed each one in turn then righted the bag with the bones inside. They buzzed with deadly energy.

“Hun, we have no time left. We have got to get to the consultation room. “

“Celeste, there is no way we will be able to make it there. You see how thick that is?”

Looking out through their protective bubble, they saw the dark energy becoming thicker and blacker, almost as if it was absorbing everything it touched. But they saw a clear path. A slim one, if they took it now they might be able to make it.

“Ok, ok. We got one shot at this. Take my hand we stay linked no matter what. We run that path there straight through. No looking back. You got it.”

All Angel could do was nod her head in agreement. The fear building in her was too great to do much else.

More cracks were forming, the passage was starting to close, they got in a crouched position.

“On the count of 3. Un…deux…”

“Hey what happened to three?!”

Celeste ignored her shot forth a blast of energy she had been building to break their barrier, and took off in a life or death sprint dragging her friend behind her.

Almost there, she thought.  Just as she placed her foot within the consultation room there was a scream, but not from her. It was Angel. She turned to see her friend lifted partially in the air. Something had grabbed her ankle long, inky black sinewy strands of the nastiness was trying hard to take Angel.

“The hell you will!”

Celeste pulled down as much energy as she could with a speed she had never done before and shot it out through her free hand at the center of the black mass. It recoiled, dropped Angel, and she dragged her friend into the consultation room before their path permanently closed.

"What The Bones Say"

This is a story I started working on last month. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have been writing it. I will be adding more chapters as the months go on. So stay tuned.

 (Gotta love this picture. I thought she was the coolest character out of ALL of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.)

What The Bones Say

Angel woke up in a cold sweat. Third night in a row that she had a dream about being chased by some dark shadowy figure. She couldn’t see the face, she could just hear it breathing, and see white teeth flash in the moon light. What the hell was it? And why was it after her?

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she got up and walked to the bathroom still trembling from the nightmare that seemed more real than dream.  “No denying it,” she said.  “This is a message.”

After showering and washing away the evidence of the terror from her body, Angel got dressed and headed down stairs to her kitchen. Smelling fresh bacon & eggs cooking, hearing the Today show in the background, and listening to the sweet, soft humming of her BFF at the stove, she felt a little better, and quickly pushed the dream from her mind.

“Hey girly! I thought you were never gonna get up. Bon Dieu! You sleep like the dead.”

Celeste Monroe, her oldest and closest friend since like sandbox. Always had a knack for putting a smile on her face even in the worst situations. Now was no different.

“You ok, cher? You are awfully quiet this morning.”

Stumbling over her thoughts, Angel finally decided to start from the beginning and tell her friend what has been going on.  Celeste was a Hoodoo. Born and raised. She had a gift for divination and interpreting dreams. If anyone would know what was going on she would.

“I had a…dream last night. I was being chased.”

“Was he hot? Cause if he was, you should of let him catch you.”

“Nasty.”

“What? I’m just saying, if I was the one being chased by some hot guy I would find a way to trip and fall and let him catch me.” A big Cheshire cat grin crossing her full lips.

Sighing, Angel pulled out the chair at the kitchen table, , pushed a few stray locs out of her face, and started to recount her reoccurring dream, the large shadowy creature in it,  and the extreme fear she has been plagued with for the past three nights.

Turnign the stove off and moving their breakfast to a cool trivet, Celeste sat down at the table with her and thought for a bit before she responded to what was relayed to her.

“DO you think it was a dream or …?”

“Please don’t say it.”

“Cher. You know you have a gift for visions, and if this is something that is gonna happen, and to you specifically, you need to face it and figure out what all of it means.”

Deep down Angel knew she was right. “I…I know.”

Getting up from the table she walked over to the window and watched the sun sparkle off the bayou water. Angel knew it was a “message.” A vision, and that if she didn’t figure it out in time, a life, mainly hers might be in danger.

Looking at Celeste, she nodded her head. “Yes, I do believe it was a vision. This just felt too REAL to be a regular dream. I’ve had enough visions in my life to know the difference. And THIS…this was no regular dream, mon ami.”

“Well then. Looks like we have work to do. Go get de bones.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Groaning like a child told to clean her room, Angel went and grabbed a small leather bag with the veve for Papa Legba,  lovingly embroidered on the front of it in silver thread. Hearing the click clack of its contents  soothed her. The bones never lied to her. They never hurt her. They may have told her truths that she wasn’t ready to hear yet, but she knew needed to be heard. Walking back into the kitchen she thought about a reading she gave 4 months ago. It was for a woman who was caught in a love triangle with her husband and his best friend. She loved both of them dearly, but was miserable in her marriage, and wanted to have the same passion and love in her life that she originally had with her husband, but with this other man.

Angel picked up the bones prayed to her guardian Loa & to Papa Legba to show her the truth that this woman desperately needed to see to make the right choice in her life.

The bones were thrown. They bounced around for a couple of seconds before landing in their  ordained pattern. Two strong yeses, two strong no’s. A decision to be made. One not to taken lightly. She picked them up again, shook them and let them fly onto the table.  Three no’s and one strong yes. If the woman stayed with her husband and waited out this storm in their marriage, there will be much happiness in the end. A third and final roll. Three yeses, one strong no. If she went with the other man, her husband’s best friend, she might be happy and content for a while (a honeymoon period), but in the end, it would fall apart. Her world would be torn  apart, and so would his.

Angel got a thank you card from the woman two weeks ago. She stayed with her husband. They went to counseling found the root of their problems, and are now happier than they have been in years. Her affair with the other man? She ended it that night she left Angel’s house following the reading. Her lover evidently moved on to another woman, and his wife found out. Left him, took their children, and most of his money in the process. Angel chuckled thanking bon Dieu, that this woman actually listened to the advise the loa were sending her through the bones, and not doing like some of her other clients do. Ignore the truth given, and end up worse off than what they were to start.

Sitting down at the table, Celeste approaches her with a fragrant cup of tea. “This will relax you. Help you to see what needs to be seen.”

While sipping the tea, her best friend cleansed her with the smoke of a burning sage bundle, and prayed for insight and protection for them both.

“You know I have a difficult time doing readings for myself. I can never see past my own damn cloud of emotions and thoughts to see what is spelled out right in front of me.”

“It takes time and practice. You know this.”

“Time and practice…I have had the past 10 years, worth of time and practice. You would think I would have gotten the hang of this by now.”

Shaking her perfectly cornrowed head, Celeste gently grabbed her friend’s hand from across the table, patted it and gave a warm motherly smile. “It was 10 years of off and on spotty practice. If you had practiced everyday like ma-tante was trying to get you to do instead of vi-key-vi, -half assed- you wouldn’t be having this problem now.”

“I know. I know. Well, I guess I better let these bad boys fly and see what was after me and what it wanted.”

Picking up the bag, Angel poured the bones into her hand. The energy in them sparked through her fingers like they were made of pure electricity. Hmmm… she thought. These have never felt like this before. Normally they would feel like a warm pulse or, heartbeat in her hand, but this was sharper. Almost painful.

“C-, touch these and tell me what you feel.” 

Celeste reached for the bones in her hand and was about to grab them, when a large blue white arch of energy shot out and shocked her.

“Merde! Fuck that hurt! Have they ever done that before?” Rubbing her injured hand and bruised ego.

“No. Never. I haven’t cleansed them in a week or two since my last client was here. Maybe they just need a bit of the smoke.”

“Maybe.” But , Celeste felt like it was something else that was causing the bones to go haywire and arch energy like that. Something dark.

Picking up the sage bundle, Angel prayed to La Sirene asking that her cool waters would cleanse the bones of any negativity, and she asked Papa Legba to close the door on any negative spirits that might be causing the problem.

“Ok. I think they are ready. Let’s try this again.”

“You go right ahead. I am keeping my hands to myself. And be careful, cher. I have a bad feeling. Something is not right about this.”

“So I shouldn’t do this?”

“No, you have to. I mean I have a bad feeling about this whole situation. Your bones have not reacted like this before, and I find it no coincidence that they seem  booby trapped since you started having this dream.”

Angel bit her lip, mulling over her choices. “Can’t you do a card reading for me? I mean we would get a more detailed picture of what is going on.”

“I guess we can.” Getting her cards from a secret drawer built into their herb cabinet, she jumped back and gasped as first smoke then flames burst forth from the drawer instantly incinerating all that was inside of it.

“What the hell?!!!”

“Get the fire extinguisher!”

Angel came running back from the pantry with the extinguisher.  After four to five blasts, the fire was finally put out.

“Well looks like cards are a no go.”

“Get the holy water, the exorcism incense, and the white chalk. We are gonna get answers, and we are gonna get them now.”

The deadly fire in Celeste’s eyes showed that her friend was not only pissed about her favorite tarot deck and other sacred items being turned into ash, but that she was determined to find whoever or what ever it was that had invaded their private space and declared war.

 

Everything Old Is New Again

 After taking a hiatus from my spiritual practices because of some mundane stuff going on in my life, I decided that it was way past time to come back.  One of the things that I wanted to get back into was divination. Divination was a source of comfort to me when I started undergrad. My first set of runes clicked and clacked away while I jogged from my dorm to my class building each day. I kept them with me at all times. Even when I went to NY to visit my family during Summer Break. It was there that my intolerant mother stole them from me and hid them, and I haven't seen them since. Then I moved on to the Tarot. Their colorful imagery had me transfixed. I had gotten to a point that even when I wasn't using them, I was "seeing" events shown by the cards in my mind's eye, before it happened (and for those who read the adult comic, "Tarot - Witch of the Black Rose," I started reading this comic because of what was happening to me).

As the years went by, I became more and more practiced in using them. And I was pretty accurate with my readings for not only myself, but for friends as well. Unfortunately, between that time and now, my abilities to read the cards have waned greatly. They swirl through my mind as a jumble of images whose deeper meaning escape me. But, I knew I wanted to get back into divining. I knew I was good at it, I just needed to find a system that would help me to unlock my unconscious again, so that I could delve into that unseen world to pull the information that was needed.

While reading about New Orleans voodoo, and about my ruling Orisha, all of a sudden I remember a phrase I had heard of a few times during my life time...Throwing of the Bones. Why not? It is a system I hadn't tried before, I thought. And it just might work. I remember reading about how the game of dice was originally a divination system, so I started looking for actual bone dice to use, but all the meanings for the various number combinations was just dizzying. Wishing for something a bit simpler, I kept researching until I came across a link that showed a set of 4 bones that is used in traditional Tibetan divination. I was in love with them in an instant. So, for three days straight I researched and went to specialty butcher shops with pictures from printouts trying to find the animal and area on the body of the animal I needed to get these beautiful bones. And then, everything fell into place. I found a diagram online that showed me the bone I was looking for, which animal it came from, and where on the body it was located. I called one last shop, and the meat department manager told me that he thought he knew what I was talking about, and to come on in. So I raced over to the store, showed him my final printout, and he went to the back and pulled out a whole sheep carcass. Showing me what I was looking for, he said, "We have tons of these. We cut them off and sell them as soup bones." He gave me a pack with six of them in there, and I went back home happier than a kid at Christmas.

After hours of cleaning the the flesh from the bones, and finally setting them out to dry, I started to research the divination meanings of each throw pattern of these bones. Quite simple in every aspect, I started to realize that they could also give a more detailed picture of a situation, than just yes/no answers. 

A month went by after the initial preparation of the bones, and I finally cleansed, blessed, and fed them. A few days later I was ready to use them. Let me say that they are amazingly accurate. Cause the questions I was asking about a situation I was recently going through in my family life....let's just say the truth was coming out. It was pointing out the obvious influences, as well as the hidden ones that I suspected, but either didn't want to see, or just did not want to believe.

With all of that said, I have found that sometimes reaching into the past and using simpler methods are way better and can bring about better results.

*If you would like to know how to make your own set of divinatory bones, check Hexy Workings, later on this week for full instructions."

And Changes Come With The New Year...

Well, October 31st has come and gone. The Pagan new year has taken place and it is a new cycle. For the past couple of weeks I was hoping to get rid of a whole bunch of stuff in my life and get organized and cleaned up to bring in positive energy for this new year...You know that whole adage, be careful of what you wish for? Well, I really should have been more careful. With the close of the previous year, things started to fall into place for one major upheaval and cleansing to take place in my life. I just wish that the "cleansing" that took place was initiated by me instead of outside parties.

But to be honest I do believe deep down that these ties needed to be cut. It was an extremely toxic relationship with someone I considered a friend and a sister. After years of support, years of fighting for them and their family, years of keeping secrets from their loved ones, only to be accused of betraying them by expressing my concern and outrage pertaining to some of their actions that involved me and my loved ones, as well as expressing concern about their constant repeating of the same mistakes over and over again in their personal life and expecting to get different results...I just got tired of trying to defend myself, and explain the actions of others. So, I cut the ropes that bound us as friends, and the delicate threads that woven together formed the tapestry of experiences that bound us as sisters.

Even with feeling like an enormous weight was lifted from me, I feel a bit of regret and hurt because I feel like I lost a part of my family. Much like I lost my grandmother, and my cousin...I feel like parts of me have died, and I will never get them back. But, everything happens for a reason. And while I don't want to believe that this happened needlessly, I have to take it for what it is...a new chapter in my life. So therefore instead of looking back in regret, I look forward with hope in my heart, and my eyes toward the rising sun on the horizon.

Blessed Be.

Witch Craft...More Than Just Wing Of Bat And Eye Of Newt.

As I sit here knitting a hat to go onto my Etsy store, I am contemplating some crafty little things I can do with my kids this weekend to help them learn more about my religious beliefs. and while doing that the word Witchcraft came to my mind.

The word itself has gained so many negative connotations to it over the centuries, that even I have a hard time using the word in my everyday life. But then I start thinking about the word as two separate words...Witch Craft. You have people who everyday put magick into the things they make. And by that, I mean that they put their love, and energy into their creations and imbue them with an energy all their own that when others either purchase, or are given their wares they feel a sense of happiness, or are kept warm, or made to feel loved. Kitchen witches do their magick mainly in the kitchen. The foods and other consumable or even wearable items that they concoct from natural items that are grown in the earth are not only imbued with earth energy, but they are also imbued with the energy of the witch preparing them.

I think about the ide bracelet I made for my son when he was being bothered with bad dreams and could not sleep at night. The love and the prayers I said while making the bracelet created an energy that when my son wore the bracelet he had a sense of peace that he had not had in months, and he was able to sleep only when he was wearing that bracelet. Even now, as I knit these hats and scarves,  sweaters, and spin my yarn, I put all of my love and energy into each item, because I want the people who will be buying my items to have a sense of how I cared about them enough (even though I don't know them) to give each item my all.

Another thing I was thinking about was what type of witch am I? I'm not a kitchen witch. Nor am I a green witch.  Then it hit me. I'm a Spinning Witch! I spin my own yarn, I do knitting, crocheting, and weaving. I do stuff that spiders do when they create their own webs. I am tapping into the energy of earth & fire (fire is also seen as being a creative energy...the fire of life) and spinning my magick into each piece I create.

So yes, I practice Witch Craft...but what is comforting is that every crafty person out there who truly loves what they do, is practicing it to.

Love & Light!

Are You Kidding Me?!!!

What happened tonight when I went to pick my kids up from the daycare tells me how godless and secular this nation has become as a whole. I promised the daycare director that I would bring a bag of extra craft supplies I had sitting around in my storage area when I came by in the afternoon to get the rug rats. So in the bag of goodies, I had several skeins of pink pompom yarn, striped pink yarn, a button making machine with button making supplies, red construction paper, and a kit I had just bought the day before to be used in my daughter's pre-school class to make Halloween masks.

So I get there, put the bags in the director's chair, and then take out the mask making kit to give to my daughter's teacher. So she is seriously scrutinizing them and she then says to me, "I have to make sure these don't have 'Halloween' anywhere on them." I was like WHOOOOAAA...then I proceeded to ask her why that would be a problem. The next series of words that came out of her mouth aggitated me to the point that I had to reign myself in, and remember that this was a corporate run education center. What does that mean? She may not have control on what happens. She begins to tell me that they can't have anything that says "Halloween, Merry Christmas, etc." It can only be Happy Fall/Autum, or Happy Holidays. About the only thing they can say is Happy Valentine's Day.

I was floored. Completely and utterly floored. Then a deep embedded knowledge almost came spilling across my lips. This is why we as a nation are going to hell in a handbasket with gasoline boxers on. There are so many people out there who have no faith in ANYTHING, and they expect the rest of us who actually do believe in something to think like them. They are so determined to make have a separation of church and state, that they are fighting to not be "subjected" to any form of religion. This separation is doing nothing but causing nation wide chaos. Kids worshiping the almighty dollar, and emulating the pure ignorance of shows like Jersey Shore, Teen Mom, Basketball Wives, and The Real Housewives of (insert city here). Parents listening to hacks like Dr. Phil, are not disciplining their children as our parents, and their parents, and their parents did before. What has this led to? Brats throwing fits in stores, cursing their parents out, and physically attacking them, while their parents tell them that if they don't stop they will be put in time out...And these are just the preschoolers. Or, parents being so disconnected from their kids that they don't even realize they are buying fire arms to shoot up their schools, or building bombs in their basements. They are so focused on removing religious influence from their lives, that they can't even see that religion contains some very fundamental values that help us to live in a positive and productive manner. As well as helping us to deal with everyday problems.

Letting all of this swirl through my head I started to feel sick and angry all at the same time. I escorted my kids to the car got in, and just drove in silence back to my apartment. There wasn't anything to say...There wasn't anything I could say. My kids chattering in the backseat just became background noise like the sound of various car engines zooming past me. All I could see was the road in front of me, as my mind's eye looked forward in time to when my kids are teenagers, and I see them coming to me to ask why religion was so important. I almost hit a car that was stopped in front of me. Slamming on my breaks, I cleared my head, and waited until the green signaled me to travel the last half a block home.

Now that I am home and my children are in bed, I sit here determined to not let them grow up without believing in...SOMETHING. Cause having a belief in something is better than NOT having belief in anything at all.

The Past...The Present...The Future

It is early October, and my hubby and I just got through cleaning the patio and putting up some of the Halloween decorations. I think the kids were more excited than us. Why was I so down about it? Well, being here in TX...in this heat...I have felt like there has not been a true change of seasons. Nothing to notify me that the old year is getting ready to go out, and new one is beginning. Not to mention the fact that this being such a conservative state, I don't feel as welcome to celebrate this holiday as I normally would (even Georgia was more welcoming to pagans than this place is).

Case in point, after putting up the decorations, and dealing with the kids buggin' me about going to the playground, I decided to pull out my favorite pentacle, polish it up, and put it on one of my best silver chains and go down to the playground and knit while my children ran around like wildmen, until they tuckered themselves out. I sat down on a bench next to a Muslim woman in full garb (face uncovered though) who was talking on her cell phone. And on another bench there was another woman who I had seen before on the playground, with her infant granddaughter. After about 5 minutes of sitting and quietly knitting while keeping a watchful eye on my kids, I noticed the woman next to me do a double take , and quickly get up and leave. Then the mother of the infant crosses the playground, goes to her mother who is holding the baby on the other bench. She looks at me and scowls, says something to her in her native tongue, then they pick up their stuff and leave. I had no idea what just happened, and didn't much care at that moment because my daughter had just slipped going up the wrong way on one of the slides and busted her top lip. So up stairs we go. It isn't until I get into my appartment and bend down to pick up something on the floor, that I see my pentacle had been free from under my jacket the entire time.

I found it extremely ironic & dishartening that I was being discrimated against because of my religious choice, and especially by someone who I am quite sure has suffered discrimination because of her religious beliefs. Even this day and age, Paganism/Goddess based religions are still at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to gaining respect as a valid, positive, and healing religious institution.

After I realized why they had left and what caused it, I got pissed, then I got sad, then finally I came to the conclusion that I can't change the minds of those around me, if they don't want to change. Still didn't stop me from sulking though for a good portion of the early evening...That is until I saw my children in their wide eyed wonderment enjoying ice pops, and giggling in anticipation of the approaching holiday while enjoying the deocrations and asking about more being put up.

Halloween has long since changed for me. In the beginning, it was the holiday that I would rush to my neighbors houses to get as much candy to stuff my face with as possible. And now it has become something holy to me. It is a time to learn from the past, honor those who have gone before me, and to take the next step to move forward to a bright shiny new future. With that said, I FINALLY made the decision to start teaching my children about my personal beliefs and practices. The great thing about this is that my husband is very supportive. He was born and raised Missionary Baptist like I was, but he is still a (practicing) Christian. Even with all of that, he knows that the teachings in my beliefs are the same as his at their very core. He also feels this will help me to bond with my children on a level that most people wish they could bond with their kids. Not only that, but teaching them now will help squash any negative ideals about other spiritual practices that are not exactly mainstream in the eyes of the masses, so that they can have an intelligent and well versed view of the world and the people around them.

To represent this new start for all of us, I have placed a black handled glittered broom in one corner of our patio as a constant reminder, as well as a protective emblem against the old negativity that has surrounded us whether it be in our personal/social lives, and mine & my husband's professional lives. The purple glitterly cat standing with it's back arched represents the constant guidance and magickal engery that has gotten us this far, and will continue to help keep our feet on the path that they need to be on. A balsam board skeleton hangs on the wall adjacent to these two items, that I have spray painted with a special glow in the dark paint. This represents our ancestors, and all of those who have gone before us to remind us to not make the same mistakes as the past but to learn from them and create a better present and future.

While my outside environment has taken away the joy of the holiday for me this year, it has not destroyed the core ideals and lessons that have now become a mainstay in mine and my family's life. And I guess, for now...that is all that matters.


Love & Light everyone!