November 1st, 2016

First, a few photos from Samhain...

Me, dressed as a Girl Scout of Night Vale.

Some spooky food in the dining hall.

I never got around to doing an actual Samhain ritual, but that's okay, because I was doing an interview about Paganism! After SIPA's ritual on Saturday, one of the reporters who was there to cover the event approached me saying she was interested in doing a follow-up story tracking me and my daily experiences with my path. As such, she came over last night and we talked for a long while about a lot of different things (although to be quite honest, even in all that time, we really only hit on the basics). She also then came back over tonight, because I told her I would be changing my altar setup now that Samhain is over.

Speaking of which, here it is as of now. I don't have any of my things for Yule at school right now, and it's a little early for that, anyway, so I went ahead and switched over to just a general working altar. The cloth is actually a scarf of my roommate's - isn't it pretty?

August 8th, 2016

The World of Faeries Festival was this weekend! I was so excited to go; after a long, difficult summer of family crises, I was really looking forward to some down time out in the open air with magical people and surroundings. The theme this year was Seasons of the Faeries. Participating children got a calendar, and then could go to each of the twelve month fairies (I was February) to play a game and get a birthstone sticker for the corresponding calendar page.

Me as Amethyst, the February fairy.

Destiny, the Season Changer fairy.

Hazelnut as Corra, the November fairy (she also did a lot of the season changing, as Destiny wasn't feeling the best).

The Blue Rose Mermaid.

One of the vendors' daughters with Natsu, the iguana dragon (check out her mother's work here).

Raincloud made it out with her boyfriend - I haven't seen her in forever!

There were some funny little field mice scurrying around the park.

Kaladin, the stilt walker.

The Statue Lady.

Bubbles...!

A vendor, Sara, working on a fantastic watercolor painting (view and purchase her art here).

Fairy Godmother Rose with her right-hand gal.

The river - we had perfect weather. Warm, but with a steady breeze and some cloud cover.

After the fair closed last night, the cast went out to dinner at a local buffet (photo credit to Hazelnut).

And last but not least, a group photo of a bunch of the cast (photo credit to photographer Mike Smith).

I met some cool new people and got to reconnect with a lot of old friends, which made me happy. I also did lots of shopping, so posts on that are upcoming. I'm very glad I got to go, and I'm already looking forward to next year.

October 26th, 2015

I'm going to pack as much Samhain into this week as I possibly can!

This past weekend, of course, was the Halloween party. Here's some of other people's pictures, after they got added to the Facebook group:

New friends!

A Valkyrie and a dog with a fondness for fire.

A civil war soldier.

Myself, winning the "Most Creative Costume" prize.

I still don't understand how this happened.

Zombie chicken?

And then tonight, the resident housing department invited students to come paint mini pumpkins during one of their meetings, and goodness knows I love me some pumpkins, so I went.

Mine was inspired by Van Gogh's The Starry Night; the lighting kind of washed the color out, but I like it. 

My mom also sent me some goodies in the mail. I didn't take a picture, but suffice it to say, I won't need to go trick-or-treating to get my chocolate fix this year.

October 25th, 2015

The party last night was really nice! I met a few other Pagan students, as well as lots of adults in the community, got to pet the sweetest little black cat, and ate more Samhain snacks than I probably ought to have.

Here's my Carlos the Scientist (from Welcome to Night Vale) costume. I actually won "Most Creative" for it! The other categories were "Sexiest", "Scariest", "Best Couple", "Ugliest", and "Most Pathetic". My favorite by far was the fact that somehow, people got it in their heads that they could put down whoever they felt like for "Best Couple" (as opposed to pairing costumes which obviously went together, like ketchup and mustard or something), and ended up nominating two guys, one dressed as a Greek god, and the other dressed as a peanut.

For my prize, I won this lovely spiderweb lantern. The hostess, who won for "Sexiest", also gave me her plastic rat prize, on the condition that I named it after her. These have both been duly added to my stock of Samhain décor.

August 3rd, 2015

It's probably a good thing I took today off work. I was so exhausted from walking around all weekend that I could barely sit up this morning. A shower seemed to take the edge off, though, so that was good. And after taking today for just me, I feel almost completely re-energized.

This morning, I worked more on a weighted blanket project while watching CharmingPixieFlora's YouTube videos. I would recommend them to anyone, but especially to those practicing Wicca or eclectic Paganism. Some of her videos contain more 101-type information, and others delve into greater detail, but even as someone who now considers herself to be pretty experienced in the Craft, I still find it helpful to refresh myself on basic information every now and then, or to listen to a different viewpoint. Besides, she's so bubbly that you can't help but feel happier listening to her talk.

After I got to a solid stopping point, I moved on to researching the crystals I bought this weekend. Expect posts on their properties over the course of the next week or so.

I also finally took some time to reorganize my closet. I consolidated boxes and got everything straightened out, which had the ultimate effect of freeing up a lot of stagnant energy and giving me an extra crate to contain my books when I return to school so that I don't have to disturb the one currently holding up my shrine.

While I was at it, I went ahead and sorted through the things I bought at Fairy Fest.

From left to right, I purchased a piece of Kyanite, a piece of Amethyst Spirit Quartz, a tiny chest with a brass pentacle on top, a little turtle dragon, a Ruby, and a drawstring bag embroidered with the image of Athena and an owl. I also got two little pouches for the Kyanite and the Ruby.

The straw mat the things are sitting on top of is actually a miniature tatami mat that I made in a class while in Japan last summer. I've been trying to figure out what to do with it for ages, and it finally just occurred to me - I can take it with me to school and use it as a tiny altar! I feel like that will be much energetically neater than setting things on the old dressers or desks that the university provides. 

The turtle dragon's name is Frederick. I adopted him from the Dragon Lady at Fest (see more of her work here), and when I told a little girl he didn't have a name yet, she suggested Freddie. He seemed to really like that idea, so I ran with it.

I got the Athena bag not only because it is lovely but also because I think I'd like to start working with her, and it seemed like it could make for a great introductory offering.

I also got this wonderful headdress that my bunny is modelling for me. I love the little horns on it! 

The World of Faeries Festival 2015

The Fairy Fest was simply amazing this year! The theme was The Eleventh Hour: A Journey Through Time, so of course I wore an updated version of my steampunk fairy costume, while Destiny went with a lovely red and blue outfit of her own.

(That's me on the right.)

Destiny borrowed a pentacle necklace of mine until she could buy her own.

We heard fantastic music from award-winning Native American flutist, Randy Granger (pictured), a Japanese Taiko drumming group, the band Patchouli, the "Harp Twins" who do contemporary music played on harps, and more.

There's always so many interesting characters...

...and fantastic creatures...

...and if one looks carefully in the fairy garden...

...one might spot a little hummingbird up in a tree!

Destiny bought herself several things, including these stones:

From left to right, these are Labradorite, Rose Quartz, and Citrine.

I also bought myself many exciting things, but those will get their own post. 

The weather could not have been better (except for a thirty-second downpour Sunday afternoon), and we met up with many delightfully Pagan vendors, some of whom we already knew and some of whom were new this year. All in all, another amazing weekend!

August 1st, 2012

A very happy Lammas to everyone! I'm celebrating today with some self-pampering, a nice ritual, and, of course, some great food. Lammas, after all, is in celebration of the beginning of the harvest season.
I've been busy as a bee-bird* the last few days, getting ready to go to Hazelnut's house on Friday. Besides the fact that we just plain have fun together, we are going to go to the Fairy Fest, or "World of Faeries", as the event is also known. We will dress up, me as a water fairy, and Hazelnut as a fire fairy. Dresses, gemstones, glitter - it'll be pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. I believe we're also going on Sunday. I'm super excited; I had to miss it last year due to a family reunion. Definitely taking some pictures to share!


*This was a play on words: "bee-bird" is the literal translation of the word for "hummingbird" in Japanese (hachidori). And now it's a lot less funny since I had to explain it. ;)

Samhain Costume, Cont.

Today I finished off (for now) my Samhain costume, by making a fairy wand.



They're really simple, and can be used for costumes, rituals, and representations of the element air. Simply find a stick that you like in your yard, the park, etc. Mine is about two feet long, but go with a length that you will like. I recommend you use a fallen stick, as wood that has dried out seems to work better, but if you're set on cutting a branch, make sure to ask the tree's permission, and leave a gift of some kind afterwards, be it a bit of hair, water, etc. Then, use a pocket knife or other carving tool to scrape off the outer layer of bark, leaving a few natural inches at the bottom for a handle. If there are any rough spots, go over them with some sandpaper, before painting on any designs that you want. I did stripes at the top and just above the handle in the elemental colors, but you could also use runes, spirals, or anything else that speaks to you. Lacking a real crystal, I also added a plastic rhinestone to the handle, and some white ribbons to the top. Other adornments could include bells, beads, feathers, etc.

Samhain Costume

Here's my costume so far. I'm really pleased with it!

October 14th, 2011

What a crazy week! I've had practice for the play, tryouts for the musical, practice for the Speech Team, a huge English project, and Community Choir. I apoligize for my lack of posting, but given the circumstances, I'd say it was justified. ;) Anyway, Wednesday was the Esbat, but again due to the aforementioned pile of stuff I had to do, I waited until last night (the night of the 14th) to do my ritual. I didn't perform a spell or anything, but I did some chanting, and enjoyed juice and yoghurt, as we were out of bread. I also got together my Samhain costume. I'm going as a fairy, and have a turquoise dress, green wings, and a mask I painted.