Labor Day Weekend

(I'm about a week late with this, but if I don't do it now, I'll never get it done.)

This was a busy weekend for us.  First, the snake training refresher, which many of you saw on Facebook--an awful and stressful, but totally useful and needed, event. Then, a wonderful, magical rest of the weekend!  Roadtrips, great food, rediscovering us, enjoying our dogs--it was incredible.  I didn't take any pics of the towns, restaurants or other people places we visited, but here are some of the natural highlights.

A view of the Texas hill country.

An angry cow, found on one of the numerous back roads we traveled which had loose livestock roaming around them.

A place that has become one of our favorite places in all of Texas.  

The ubiquitous cactus in bloom.

Obviously near a water source, as you won't find green like this anywhere else in this state at this scorching time of year.

Naturally terraced cactus.

The aforementioned water.  Surface water is a rare sight here in this drought.

More terraces.

DH, Don, intent on something.  :)

This might be my favorite shot of over 100 pictures.  Don, again, this time watching his step.

 Limestone cliffs near the bats.

 

Updates, on Kai and on Life

Now that everything but the waiting is over on our Canadian citizenship test, I can get back to my regularly scheduled life, including blogging.  Mind you, it took a call to our MP to get it done, but I don't really want to go into the horribly inefficient, if not incompetent, process it was.  Results, of a sort, will take anywhere from one to three months, so it looks like we'll be here at least into January, if not March, just what we've been trying to avoid.

Kai's cyst turned out to be benign, thank the Goddess.  Of course, he is now in the second phase of stitching on it, seeing as the wound opened up the afternoon after we got the stitches out the first time.  This time, they're leaving them in longer.

Samhain was an even quieter-than-usual affair this year, largely due to the aforementioned stitches.  We have to keep him fairly calm until they come out (again), so we couldn't afford repeated knocks at the door, which would have been too exciting for him, crate or no.  So we hid in the back part of the house and did only a quiet little ritual.

On a related note, this is the first year we've celebrated New Year's Day on November 1st.  We decided to do it for a variety of reasons, but it was definitely odd being the only ones around us doing it.  Not to mention that there was no snow on the ground and no fairy lights around.  Unless of course you count the orange ones at the neighbor's house.  :)

I had a surprisingly wonderful time at Hammercon IV last weekend!  I had never gamed in public before, and I was majorly stressed about it, but it turned out to be great, even with a couple of GM problems.  Check out the Hammer Games website for news on Hammercon V in 2013, as well as to find games and fellow gamers in the GTA.

And finally, I CAN NOT BELIEVE OBAMA WON!  I'm VERY happy about it, mind you, but I would have bet money it wouldn't happen.

[Pagan Blog Project] L is for Lughnasadh, or August Eve

Lughnasadh celebrates the first harvest of the year.  It is the first of three harvest festivals (the other two being Mabon and Samhain.)  It also has the distinction of being the one Wiccan/Pagan holiday with which I cannot seem to connect.

I WANT to celebrate it.  It marks the end of summer, and the fact that there’s FOOD.  Both GREAT reasons to party.   Yet, I can’t seem to get into it.  I have to really try in order to not totally forget it, and even when I remember I often leave any planning to the last minute, or find I’ve not made enough time to do anything to celebrate it.

I know the two reasons I have so much trouble with it.  First of all, it’s not marked by some definite event, like a solstice or an equinox.  Secondly, when the Christians stole it (and called it Lammas) they didn’t make a big deal of it, like they did for Samhain, Yule, and Ostara (All Hallow’s Eve, Christmas, and Easter.)  As a consequence, I didn’t grow up celebrating its descendant, either.  And perhaps a third reason is that I don’t particularly follow Celtic traditions, so it didn’t appeal to me from that perspective.  I’ve recently learned that early Wiccans called it “August Eve.”  This is much more attractive to me, personally.

Maybe, armed with knowledge of this older name, I will be able to connect with it this year!

Pagan Blog Project   

Happy New Year

I'd long since given up new year's resolutions.  I never kept them for long, and all they seemed to do was make me feel guilty, inadequate, and miserable.  I do still kiss DH at midnight and make sure to have a bite of black-eyed peas on January 1st.  I also try to do things on that day that I want to continue to do all year long.

But while the kissing is fun (and it obviously works--we're affectionate all year, lol!), the other beliefs have never worked any better than the resolutions did.  And for the last year or two I've been playing with the idea of dropping them, also.  Until now.

DH and I celebrated our third Samhain this past weekend, and we had a long talk about when it makes sense, to us, to celebrate the new year.  We decided that November 1st suits us much better than January 1st.  It didn't quite sink in this year, so we didn't kiss at midnight or have black-eyed peas the next day, but we did spend yesterday doing things we wanted to keep doing all year long.

It's much too soon to tell whether this will work, of course.  But it feels better.  It feels right.  If I can keep these things up for a month or longer, which is about how long I ever kept those resolutions, I'll know that I'm on the right path.

And, either way, next October 31 I do plan to add that kiss at midnight!

Life Update, Part 2

As promised, the updating continues with a report on Kai's 1st Birthday festivities.  Things started out a little rocky, what with the pano and all, but they ended on an excellent note as the Boys' first camping trip was a resounding success!

We spent three days at Bruce Peninsula National Park, and with it being early in the season, there was almost no one else there.  That was great, especially for their first camping experience. 

They spent time hiking in the woods, swimming in the lake, learning new skills (like sleeping in a tent, and not trying to crawl under the dining fly's walls to get out), and generally having a great time.  They barked at geese flying across the lake, at squirrels running up trees, and at the Dreaded Nothing.  (Did I mention we were really GLAD we were the only ones there?)

Kai really enjoyed himself, but I think it was even more fun for Lance.  We had a hard time keeping him out of the water--swimming a mere four times a day just wasn't enough, it seems!  And, eventually, thrown sticks weren't good enough either.  He started dragging 3-5 foot logs in to shore!


They, and we, can't wait to do it again!

Beltane Mezcal

I hope everyone had a very merry Beltane.  Despite rain and gloom, we certainly did!  We decided to focus on excess this year, and the result was a very enjoyable night and day.

It started with my first ever taste of mezcal, which, despite my Mexican heritage, I'd never tried.   We just happened to see it in Vintages section of the local LCBO.  We were surprised to see no worm in the bottle, but we found out from a helpful clerk that while they DO still put it in mezcal, Canadian health regulations prohibit a worm's inclusion in bottles imported into Canada.

The mezcal itself had a deep, rich, smoky flavor.  My DH said that he'd had a really inexpensive mezcal before, and it had tasted like kerosene.  This one most certainly did NOT.  While "smooth" is not a word I'd use to describe it, neither is harsh.  I could only take small sips, and there was a pleasant burning all the way down my throat, but overall it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.  (My DH, who actually LIKES smokey flavors, enjoyed it even more than I did.)

The night continued with rich colors, great music, a superb bottle of wine, grilled steaks, and staying up WAY too late!  The next day, May 1, we slept in deliciously late, then spent the remainder of the day walking in the woods with our puppies.  Not necessarily excessive, but still a lot of fun.  And the woods, at least, felt wonderfully witchy.

Contact me if you want more details on the Mezcal.  :)

Groundhogs, Blizzards, and Spring

Welcome to the Groundhog Day Storm of 2011! 

February 2 is an interesting day for DH and I, even without a blizzard!  Imbolc is often celebrated on the 2nd, as is Groundhog Day and the stolen Candlemas.  My DH and I celebrate not only the day we met, but also the day, a year later, when we married on the 2nd.  This year, it also happens to be the eve' of Chinese New Year (Year of the Rabbit, or so I've heard).  And, just to add a little interest, today there is, of course, the storm.  Whew!

I'm pretty sure we all know about Groundhog Day.  But how many of you know it has Pagan origins?  I'm not kidding!  See for yourself--Google "groundhog" and "Pagan". 

Imbolc is also a Pagan holiday with roots in fertility, weather divination, and looking forward to Spring.  Those who know much more about etymology than I will tell you that the word itself comes from a Gaelic phrase for "in the womb".  This phrase refers to lambs, which are now or will shortly be waiting to be born, as we are waiting for Spring. The Earth herself lies in wait, preparing to burst forth with new life in a few weeks.

Most of you don't know that DH and I met on the internet, long before it was actually cool to have done so.  We met face-to-face when he drove from Dallas to Austin in an ice storm on February 2nd, and we were married a year to that date later on a rainy one.

I don't know a whole lot about Chinese New Year, so I'll move on to the storm.  A blizzard was forecast for last night and this morning, but I haven't checked if we actually made it.  I've seen snow falling harder since moving here, and I've seen higher winds, but the criteria for a blizzard are the durations of both.  The media is calling it the GroundHog Day Storm, and I admit it's a catchy title.  DH and I have never been in a blizzard before, and with our love of winter and of weather, we loved it!

Whatever you're celebrating today, I hope you've had and are having a great one!

Back to Your Semi-Regularly Scheduled Reading

Alright--I've been off for almost a month, it's pretty much time to get back to my regular schedule, and to my computer!  You see, around our house, we have holidays starting at the Winter Solstice (around December 21st), through New Year's Eve and Day, and continuing through both DH's and my birthdays in the first half of January.  We still have our anniversary in the first week of February,  but that's usually a weekend or less--not nearly so disruptive.  And then there's Valentine's Day, which some Pagans refer to as Aphrodite's Day, but that, too, takes a weekend at most, if we even choose to celebrate it.

It actually used to be worse, when we DID celebrate US Thanksgiving.  At that point, our holiday season would start in the last week of November, and continue through all the Christmas parties and New Year's celebrations and birthday merriment right through until now.

Combine all the revelry during the holiday season, and add to that the amount of vacation DH usually takes at this time of year, and you can imagine how different our lives are for this past month!  Nonetheless, I'm determined to get back to normal!  I caught up on a bunch of personal tasks yesterday, and today I'm getting back to this!

Of course, I'm simply trying to get back in the habit, such as it was.  I don't have anything earth-shattering or particularly insightful to say. 

Maybe tomorrow.  :)

Good Wishes to All!

Good afternoon, Dear Readers!  I'm emerging from a leftover-turkey-induced coma to wish you all a happy holiday season.  Whatever you celebrate at this time of the year, I hope it has been/is/will be full of joy and good cheer! 

Have a fun (and safe) secular New Year!

Holiday Update

I had a long talk with DH last Friday night, and I managed to convince him that we really had had enough of being unreasonably cold for this year.  The result--we're not going camping over Yule.  That being decided, we went on to talk about decorating issues.

Are we not in the holiday spirit because we haven't decorated, or have we not decorated because we're not in the holiday spirits?  This was the question.  We decided to start finding the answer by forcing ourselves to make plans for a Longest Night celebration (a concept stolen from Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Dart series).  Here is our list:


1.  Dinner (We'll spend the day cooking a grand feast for two.)
2.  A trip down to Niagara Falls, to enjoy their holiday lights.
3.  Ritual baths.
4.  Yule Ritual
5.  A trip out to our very own "dark spot" to (weather permitting) gaze at Yule constellations and, of course, the lunar eclipse.
6.  Back home to greet the dawn.
7.  A celebratory breakfast, with mimosas and Mexican pancakees  (largely prepared the day before)
8.  SLEEP


After making this grand plan, we decided to deck the halls after all.  We're still not hanging fairy lights, but we've got the tree upstairs and the wreaths hung, and we'll finish the decorating tonight, including the ritual room and the altar.  (I'll try to remember to post pics.)


Now I'm just hoping I can stay awake for everything!

Holiday Blahs

Sorry I haven't written in a while, but I've had fairly little to write about.  Unless you count being cold, cold, cold after our furnace went out and the subsequent replacement of said furnace.  Not really interesting stuff.

I was talking to my mother yesterday, and she has about a gazillion activities planned for the next couple of weeks.  Me?  I don't have a one.  Nor am I upset about that--I just can't seem to get into the holiday spirit this year.  (I think it was the whole furnace problem that really put a damper on things, and maybe feeling down for US Thanksgiving started it.)

At any rate, we haven't decorated, not at all.  We haven't put the tree up or made our library-turned-ritual-room seasonally appropriate or put the wreaths up.  We certainly haven't put up holiday lights.  Even our altar sits bare and unadorned.  And with every day that passes, the very idea of doing any of it grows more futile.

We're playing with the idea of camping for Yule.  I'm really wondering about it after being cold all last week, but DH is really excited by the notion.  If we do, it means we won't have not-decorated the house in vain--we won't be here to have enjoyed the decorations anyway!

That thought actually does cheer me!

A Thanksgiving That's Not Really Mine Anymore

If you think I'm a day late posting this, then you don't really understand US Thanksgiving.  It officially happens on the 4th Thursday of November, but it's really a lot bigger than that!

It generally starts on the Wednesday before, when most students, from kindergarten to University, and lots of employees get off at noon in order to get to family by the next day.  Lots of people take the entire Wednesday off, in order to get an extra day of travel time.  It continues, of course, on Thursday, when most of the cooking, all the eating, and a lot of the football watching happens.  Then there's Black Friday.  And yes, most Americans, save those working in retail or essential services, get those two-and-a-half days off.  On Saturday, it's time to start saying goodbye to family as they start to make their way back across the country to their homes.  Or maybe it's time to put up the winter holiday decorations, especially the tree.  On Sunday it's definitely time to say goodbye to the last of your guests, and by Sunday evening everything is pretty much back to normal, except for the leftovers, and the newly-hung decorations.

So, you see, it's perfectly legitimate to be writing about US Thanksgiving today.

When we first moved to Canada, to British Columbia, we celebrated  both the Canadian and the American versions of the holiday.  And many years we traveled to see family in distant states for the US version.  But since we've moved back to Canada (Ontario, this time),  and especially since we've gotten our Permanent Residence status and have made the decision to apply for Canadian citizenship, we haven't really tried.  Asking for those 2 1/2  days off gets old, especially when you're not in the holiday spirit because everyone around you celebrated the holiday weeks ago.  And I hadn't really missed it.  I think in a lot of ways it's easier not to think about it.

But today I have been thinking about it, and I've been down about it.  I'm not sure why, but this year I miss my family terribly, and I miss the huge hoopla that surrounds this 4th Thursday.  So much so that I've shed more than a few tears today.  I had big plans--finish a couple of lessons, finish a project for a friend that's way overdue, make sure Kai can pass all the Level 2 items that I know he knows.  But, instead, I cried, and felt down, and generally blah.

Maybe tonight I can forget it, this holiday I no longer consider mine.

Missing

I'm sorry I've yet again missed many days of posting, Dear Readers.  Life reared up its head and blogging went down in priorities for the last couple of weeks.  I hope you all had a Happy Halloween, a Blessed Samhain, or both.  (I'm bummed I missed posting everything I had planned for the holiday, but there's always next year.  :)  )

My own holiday went much better than last year.  DH and I are getting better at blending the two aspects, and hopefully will continue to improve.  We managed this year to combine honoring our ancestors and dearly departed with watching a couple of scary movies, and did justice to both, if I do say so myself.

On to Yule. 

Blessed Samhain

I know a lot more about Samhain now than I did back in 1978.  The Wiccan/Neo-Pagan holiday, that is, not the ancient Celtic one, though I suspect they have much in common.  

On the surface, Halloween and Samhain have much in common --  the date, the colors (orange and black), the jack-o-lanterns, the ghosts about, and so on.  It makes sense, both having their roots in the Celtic Samhain.  But while secular Halloween involves scaring ourselves, and the Celts thought (and the Church would have you believe) that evil spirits roam the night and you must protect yourself against them by wearing masks and lighting candles in scary gourds, Pagan Samhain is much, much more.

The date is a significant one in the Wiccan Wheel of the Year-- it is considered the Wiccan New Year.  It is also one of the four Greater Sabbats, occurring across the Wheel from Beltane, on the midpoint between the Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice.  As a Greater Sabbat, it marks a significant change in the seasons.

Instead of fearing the dead, we Pagans often welcome lost loved ones, who can come close on this, one of two nights in the year when the Veil between our world and the spirit world is at its thinnest. (The other is at Beltane.)  We, too, light candles in gourds (most often pumpkins in North America), but these lights are not meant to scare away evil spirits, they are meant to guide our ancestors to our homes.  We decorate in black and hold Dumb Suppers.

Many of us also take this night to celebrate various gods and goddesses of death, again taking advantage of the thinness of the Veil.  Some believe that it is the first night of the Wild Hunt, as the Fey can also come across the Veil at this time.

 We decorate in black, also, to mark the coming of the death of the earth, which must happen before it comes to life again in the Spring.  In doing so, we celebrate darkness.  As such, it marks a time of rest and renewal, and many Pagans spend the time between Samhain and the Winter Solstice in meditation and reflection, preparing for the next year. 

But we also decorate in orange, for while this is a night to celebrate death and the dead, it is also the 3rd Harvest Festival, which marks the final harvest.  It is a time for feasting one last time before we batten down for Winter.  A time to celebrate the harvest--whether that harvest be crops or relationships or knowledge gained.  Or anything else that you have reaped in the past year.

We also, of course, dress in costumes, but that has more to do with secular fun than Samhain.  :)

And Now for More Serious Stuff . . .

Well, sort'a.  We're near to the middle of  the month, and the Domestic Witch's Halloween 2010 Blog Party,  so I've decided to switch from the fun, frivolous, fantastical holiday of Halloween to the biggest Witch holiday of the year, Samhain.  And I thought I'd begin the new topic by writing about our first experience with it, last year.

It wasn't the first time I'd heard the word.  I think the first time I heard it was in the 1978 "Halloween" movie, or maybe the novelization thereof.  You know, the one with Michael Myers and Jamie Lee Curtis?  If I remember correctly, the evil spirit of Samhain had possessed the innocent young Michael, or some such nonsense.  Not that it's not a GREAT movie--I just object to their ignorant use of the concept of Samhain.

Being entirely ignorant of Celtic or Wiccan holidays myself, that was the last I heard of it, until I became Wiccan myself, in January of 2009.  Learning about the new holidays that were now part of my life, I came to the chapter on Samhain--and was ecstatic!  Imagine, a religion that celebrated Halloween as much as I did!  How exciting!  How wonderful!

But, I didn't want to give up the Halloween angle, either.  So, last year, DH and I attempted to celebrate both.  Now, I'm told it can be done, and often is.  I plan to do it this year.  But last year, last year was a disaster.  Why?  I think because we are SO experienced at Halloween, it completely threw us to try and combine it with anything else, perhaps most with something so similar.  We ended up doing both badly, and were quite frustrated and unsatisfied, both from the festive side AND the spiritual side.

We learned from our mistakes, I hope.  And we've thought about it a lot, and planned a lot.  I'm confident that this year we can treat costumed children AND honor our ancestors, and do both well.

Wish us luck!

M is for Massachusetts
ABC Wednesday

Well, I've been out for a week, so I'm behind on all the Halloween stuff I was going to post before moving on to Samhain!  At this point, it might just have to wait until next year!  But before I discuss more serious topics, I thought I'd mention, for my ABC Wednesday post this week, the Festival of the Dead in Salem, Massachusetts.

The Witches in Salem really know how to celebrate in style!  I've never been, but I've dreamt about doing so every year since I first heard about it.  They've turned their dark and sad history into a bright and glittering celebration, not to mention business.

Whatever you seek, they've got.  From the Psychic Faire and Witchcraft Expo to the Vampire's Masquerade Ball, from Ghost Hunting 101 to the Dumb Supper, there seems to be something there for everyone.  All leading up to the grand event, their crowning glory, The Official Salem Witches' Halloween Ball.

So if you get the chance, go!  (And don't forget to write and tell me about it!)  Or maybe some of you have already been?  What did you think?

Attending in my imagination . . .

Who Can Forget the Costumes?

My The Domestic Witch's 2010 Halloween Blog Party entry for today is all about costumes.  Fun, silly, scary, serious or sexy, what would Halloween be without them?
         
Trick-or-treating, masquerade balls, costume parties, and costume contests--little princesses, goblins, pirates, cheerleaders, vampires, ninjas, and cowboys wandering up and down our streets, treat bags in hand, in the earlier hours of that special night.  Or their more sophisticated and sometimes sexier adult aspects which we see at parties, bars, and clubs throughout the week or so preceding the big night.  All of them are part of the magic.

I don't remember all of the costumes I've worn throughout the years, but a few of them stand out.  DH and I dressing as vampires and handing out sangria to parents out with their trick-or-treaters.  Going as the Christian devil while my DH went as the Christian god on Austin's famous (infamous) 6th Street.  Going as a ghost in a top-hat.  (It was the only way to keep the sheet from sliding.) 

There are others' costumes I remember, also.  The year a housemate went as a fairly elaborate Cleopatra.  My DH's boss' boss, who was about 6'2", dressed as Darth Vader, mask and all.  The little girl who came to the door as the Pink Power Ranger.

What was your most memorable costume?

K is for Kitties 

(ABC Wednesday)

Black ones, that is.  A black cat, especially the arched-back silhouette variety, is one of the most easily recognized symbols of Halloween, which is my topic today for The Domestic Witch's 2010 Halloween Blog Party.

We all know the symbols of Halloween, if not the reasons behind them.  They definitely call up the season, and sometimes even give us a chill.  I'll talk about Halloween history later in the week, but for now let's just discuss the symbols themselves.

Black cats, witches' hats, and flying bats, to start.  Witches themselves, especially the ones flying broomsticks across a full moon. That same full moon behind a bare, gnarled tree.  Tombstones, ghosts, jack-o-lanterns and the pumpkins from which they are now carved.  Cauldrons, skeletons, and anything black and orange.  Severed limbs and scarecrows, cobwebs and dripping candlesticks.

The modern secular holiday is all about scaring ourselves, and these symbols all, at one time or another, did just that.  Today, I fear we're moving away from the classics towards signs that are more gross than eerie--bugs and slimy eyeballs and the like.

What images give you a bit of a fright? 

On the 1st Day of Halloween. . .

This post, late as it may be, is my first one for The Domestic Witch's 2010 Halloween Blog Party.  I'm going to attempt to post every weekday in October about Halloween/Samhain--the mundane, the magickal, and even the magical.  :)

Starting out, I thought I'd talk about the Halloween parties of my past.  This includes everything from the first one I threw to the biggest one I've ever thrown. 

The first one was at my mom's house when I was 13.  It was quite possibly the first Halloween party I ever attended.  (Nobody in the small Texas town where I grew up was as into Halloween as I was.)  It was certainly the first costume party to which I'd ever gone.  I still have some of those decorations, although they're more like mementos now, much too fragile to actually be used.

I continued to throw, and go to, Halloween parties all through my high school, university, and young adult days.  One memorable year I attended four different parties on October 31st.  The guests changed, as did the size of the guest list and the themes, but they all celebrated my favorite, favorite, favorite holiday. 

Then I met my DH, and to my delight he loves Halloween as much as I do.  We began throwing one every year.  We started small, with less than a dozen guests, in Cedar Park, Texas.  At our last one, in Vancouver, BC, we invited close to 200 people.  (I hope those of you who were there remember it as well as I do.)  By this time, we had more Halloween decorations than we'd ever need--and still do.  We've not gotten rid of any of them.

We were forced to move, to California, and were so unhappy the two Halloweens we were there we didn't even THINK about throwing a party.  (Although we did spend one Oct 31 in Death Valley, in costume.)  And for each of the five Octobers we've been in Ontario (2010 makes six), something or other has gotten in the way of having one.  We did seriously consider having a party this year, but life once again interfered, this time in the form of financial and health problems.

But there's always hope for next year.

Holiday Tidings

Happy Mabon and Harvest Moon on this wonderfully appropriate, fall-like, rainy day, everyone!  Don't forget to be grateful, and may all your heart's desires be fulfilled!