Pentas, Parsley, and Peppermint

Gardening both inside and outside the home can really help one create a much needed connection with nature. It also helps remind us how many things in our lives are influenced by the world around us, an environment we often take for granted while confined to offices, kitchens, and studies.  Not to mention, it is so rewarding to be able to utilize something in the home that you helped create, nurture, and raise.

I don't generally have the best luck with gardening of any sort.  I am better than my mom with plants (in whose care plants seem to die instantaneously and consistently). BUT, occasionally I find a plant I get along with.  That combined with my determined attitude to finding said plants or figuring out what it is I am doing wrong with the ones that don't like me will sporadically result in success.

As some earlier posts mention, I started landscaping our home last year. I've had some things work and some fail miserably.  Thus, I did not choose to include my dead gardenia plants in this picture.  However, I did have tremendous success with this little, cheap plant I bought at Home Depot (shocking in itself). I bought it simply to add a pop of color to my driveway. After what seemed to be a process of dying, they actually bounced right back (I assume it was shock and adjustment to being planted) and they look fantastic. They have been in bloom all year around ever since. This miracle plant for the gardener without a green thumb is the pentas.  I have 4 purple dwarf pentas and 8 pink/red regular ones now and they all look great. 

This is a great flower not only for convenience and price, but the added bit of magick just puts a smile on my face.  The pentas are thusly named for the 5 -pointed star of a flower.  I feel that having so many flowers representing pentagrams in front of my house has to offer some level of protection to deflect negative energy.  I can't help but imagine it forming a barrier of sorts that blocks guests from bringing any nasty vibes with them. So far so good - my house has always felt open, inviting and calming after any stressful day. 

I don't mean to go on too long here but I also wanted to add a little bit about my recent attempt at herbs.  Again, a pass/fail sort of situation. I tend to grab herb plants as I pass them at Walmart or such. I am choosing to attribute my failure with them based on that.  Gardeners typically advise against Home Depot or Walmart plants rather than a nature center or somewhere that specializes in happy, healthy greenery. But I have maintained a slim level of life in my basil, lavender, and rosemary plant for some months. No progress, but they aren't dead either... hm.  I did acquire just last week a peppermint and parsley plant from Whole Foods.  Still a grocery, but I figure the focus on organic and healthy food may transfer to their plant care as well.  So far so good...the plants are alive and well.  I actually trimmed them to make sure they have room to grow in their curent pots until I find new homes.  I am curious to see how drying them out goes. I tied some of the trimmings up and hung them in my kitchen for looks, smell, and convenience during cooking and possibly for candle making.  If it works, the thought of natural scents from the plants would be so nice. (lavender-mint anyone?) Wish me luck! If anyone has tips on healthy herb growing in the house, please pass it along!

Catching the Flame

January has ended and with its passing, so too is the winter coming to an end.  It is hard to believe it is already February and the new year is slowly loosing its novelty.  Although all these application deadlines, comprehensive exam study session, and reading lists do bring a certain level of excitement on a career level, I do regret my lack of spiritual or physical work lately.

Imbolc Altar

At times like these, it is good to have always a reminder of this trinity.  The triquetra means many things to many people.  Wiccans often use it to mean the triple goddess. Although I acknowledge the triple goddess concept, I don't usually like to work so specifically.  I simply defer to the trinity as a way to reiterate the need to balance mind, body, and spirit.  It's all about balance.

Sometimes it is about accepting when the balance has shifted. Maybe that other aspect of your life needed the extra focus at the moment.  But acknowledge it and know that the balance will have to be restored.  The simultaneous situation of deadlines on the academic side is, of course, out of my control.  It is my final semester and I expected things to get hectic.  Add in wedding planning and it's a recipe for stress.  I almost thought about canceling on my monthly Wicca class but I am glad I did not.  The class gave me a great night to focus on magickal things and meet up with some great minds.

At home, I also [finally] received my lightcatcher from Sacred Mists!  I was awarded one for second place in a Samhain altar contest.  Unfortunately over the winter holiday it seems they had repeated mail issues trying to send it to me. But I got it at last and hung it on a statue near my living room window.  Perfect timing. I could really use something to help bring all the light that has begun shining in my life into one place and transform it into organized, geometric sparkles.

Brownie point for my 'body' aspect of the trinity, I did find a fantastic yoga studio. Yes, there are free classes at school. But they're often late at night (not likely for me to drive to campus so late) or mid day only 2 days a week (hard to catch between my classes).  Having a studio on the back burner is great when you know you need to get a class, but are trying to work outside the school's schedule. I can only make it once a week for now, to save money. But it still feels very good to walk straight into a small yoga class in a room that is clearly set up and decorated in a way conducive to meditation.  Beautiful himalayan salt lamps lining the walls and fascinating lotus mandala on the roof are hard to pass up.  I missed class today because of work (I am still keeping one shift a week at a tea and spice store - not sure why at this point) but I look forward to going again. Even this smallest bit, a weekly yoga class, is a step in the right direction for my physical and spiritual well being.

Hopefully Brigid, goddess of home and hearth associated with fire, will help bring focus and light into my life and I can keep a calm and steady grasp on all that's going on.  After all, having too much going on is better than having nothing.  I certainly accept that I am blessed and lucky to have so much coming into my world, but I will have to work on balancing it all at once so that I am actually able to reap the benefits that are hiding behind the stress!

the Candle Crafting Continues

I made a post recently mostly just about decorating some natural candles I bought for my wedding.  While those are turning out lovely, my passion and admiration for the gentle glow and scent of a good candle has only burned brighter.  Many times, in passing, I have thought about making candles. That fantasizing grew to be about candles that are so interesting and handcrafted with love and natural ingredients, that others may actually like to purchase them.  I have a friend who enjoys the thrills and drama of a home business, making and selling products online.  While not enough for a year-long career, she seems to really enjoy taking time from her office job in the holiday months to work from her apartment.  However, I also know people who have attempted to do some online business and it hasn't quite worked out.  So candles has never been a serious career move idea for me, but the idea still lingers as a whimsical hobby.

One day recently, I finally decided to at least get enough supplies for a candle or two and see if I could even make a candle worth selling.  Or at the least pretty enough for me to keep around the house and maybe save some money from buying candles.
Armed with some wood wicks, a hot glue gun, a box of soy wax, fragrance oils, and a melting pot...I went to work in the kitchen.  Interestingly enough and by coincidence, it was a great time to be making these candles for magickal purposes as well.  It was around the full moon, and on a Saturday, which according to my weekday correspondences courtesy of Ellen Dugan's Book of Witchery, is represented by pomegranate.  Lovely!

With pomegranate for fertility and/or prosperity, and vanilla for sensuality (great for relationships), the full moon should amp up these candles for love and prosperity.  I melted down leftover wax from a glade apple-cinnamon candle I had pretty much used up, and poured that into another nearly used candle with a wintery smell.  Tada - already rejuvenated old candles and made them usable again! :) I was also left with a nice new frosted candle jar!  The other jar I used was an old artichoke hearts container that I washed out (many times - artichoke marinade smell lingers apparently). Eco point 1 for me, reused glass jars.

 The process was actually pretty simple.  I scooped about a half cup of soy flakes (eco point 2!) into the pot.  I set it up double boiler style, as instructed by a plethora of YouTube videos.  It melted quickly and I added in the pomegranate oil and some rust-colored candle dye.  I decided to do layered candles; hey, go big or go home, right?  So I poured the first layer in after having glued down my wood wicks (eco point 3 - all natural wicks!). I had to let that cool before dealing with the next layer.

Second verse, same as the first.  I melted down more wax, this time left it natural colored, and added vanilla.  A few repeat rounds of wax pouring later... I actually had pretty and delicious smelling candles!  Not to mention, my kitchen smelled WONDEROUS.

I finished the jars off with some ribbon I had around the house.  Not too shabby...this candle thing may work out just yet!  I gave one to my friend (the one who works from home) and filled her in on all the magickal goodness that awaits her within her one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted, eco-friendly, witch's candle. She was pretty excited, agreeing that love and prosperity were certainly things she could use :) She was also shocked at how clean and pretty they looked (which I most strongly concerted with her surprise) and  planted the seed - "I think you really could sell these, especially if your going through the trouble of establishing correspondences and moon phrases into this..."  
I kept one candle for myself, and happy to say, it's still going!  I have had it lit for maybe 1-3 hours in a night, and over the course of several nights it is nowhere near half used.  I imagine it has a good 10 hours burn life in it.  I haven't made anymore yet... but will definitely try to work on that soon! 

New Year New Beginnings

Well here comes the mandatory new year blog post!  I'll try not to get into notions about positive thinking and starting fresh. That's a given and naturally each new year gives us a special time to refocus ourselves and reinstate old goals as well as develop any new ones.

Of course, I am very excited for graduation and marriage, all to come in the first half of this year.  So most of my time and energy will have to be aimed at keeping focused and not letting distractions get in the way.

Resolution #1: Maximize time efficiency to get all school work and wedding projects done and done well.

Spiritually I am finishing up my year and a day Wicca course at the Unitarian church.  Granted I think I've decided I'm more in the way of traditional witchcraft rather than Wicca, but that's the sort of thing I may not have figured out without attending this class.  Not to mention all the other great things I've learned. This class is truly designed to help us find our own way and lend tools that anyone can utilize and alter to fit our personal style. As it should be.

Resolution #2: Continue to learn, study, and grow spiritually in whatever way life leads me. In particular - use my new "Spell-a-Day" Almanac by Llewellyn to help me use magick on a regular basis and start internalizing some of the great information I have been learning.

Of course, there is also the need to hop on that job train that I will have to carve out more time for.  I have a fast approaching deadline to start rounding up some interviews toward finding something to do with my life post-wedding.  I can't wait to see what the world has in store for me (although it is most definitely scare to not know!).

Resolution #3: Try to use some of my spare time to actually apply to jobs, use the career center at school, and keep on top of networking opportunities to find a career. Never lose hope and never stop trying!

I have a few other goals that probably reflect those of many who read this.  Some people look at me and think I must eat healthy and work out and all that jazz.  I am a young adult and blessed with a good metabolism (for the moment).  But any day now, given my genetic predecessors, it will slow down and I'm going to have to do something about it.  So my final new year's resolution is to not only start exercising  but continue doing so.  I have started many times before, but my drive tends to fizzle out after two or three weeks. I need to buckle down and make exercise a routine. I think I have done well eating healthier lately, but I can always keep improving.  I did buy a cookbook today with a lot of delicious, fresh looking meals called "ten dollar dinners" that I am excited to work with.  Two birds with one stone on better eating and saving money! I'll try to take pictures when I get around to making those recipes.

Resolution #4: Exercise and cook great, healthy meals at home :)

So those are my resolutions.  As will any goal, I tried to keep them realistic. I also will try to keep in a positive mindset and realize that I may have hard times and hiccups in juggling all of these and that is ok.  Life goes on and so will I.  As long as I'm trying to stay on track and keep focused on these goals, I will be moving in a good direction.

Good luck to all of you in your resolutions, and don't give up! May the sun rise each day bringing brightest hopes and blessings for everyone.

Happy 2013!

Light on the Favors

I have finally been able to catch up on a few wedding projects over the break.  I don't have all of my RSVP's yet, but I have more than half of them so I was able to get cracking on my wedding favors.  Anyone whose working on this sort of thing might have realized that for some crazy reason most websites want you to spend around $2 a person for favors, which adds up quickly since most weddings are around 100 guests.  I was not ready to settle for that.  Especially when these $2 did not even seem very unique or personal.


I found a great site: save-on-crafts.com. This site has so many random craft supplies for all kinds of projects. It may not be the best organized website, but worth a look if you find something that will work for you. I managed to find some great natural beeswax votive candles, 48 for $25!  While plain looking, at that price I knew I could come up with something.  I later went to Michael's and bought a can of chalkboard spray paint.  I taped off the candles with blue painter's tape and with the help of a friend, we knocked out almost all of these in a weekend.

After all the chalkboard strips had dried on the glass, I used a chalk marker in a sort of sage green color to go with my woodsy theme to write the guests' names and the date of the wedding on them.  A vine flourish made them look unique, personal, and classy.

Nearly done now, I just have some pink/natural colored raffia strings to tie bows on them (pink for girls, natural for boys) and will top with lavender oil and iridescent glitter inside the candle to finish. I am trying to wait on the oil until the last minute so it stays fresh and fragrant :)  I can't wait to see these all over the room, marking the guests' places at their table and am curious to see if 90 lavender anointed candles will add a romantic aroma to the reception!

Season's Sweetenings

So as introduced by the last post, the holiday season is upon us.  Some of my previous post may have had some grinchy undertones. Although I must pride myself on my moral lesson of good thoughts to end with, today I mean to share one of the things I really enjoy about the season.  Baking!

It's great because although I enjoy baking, I never really want to eat much of what I make.  I don't have much of a sweet tooth and almost never eat desserts...but I really love making them for some reason.  I love that they are sweet, they smell great, and you can decorate them.  But the best of all, is sharing my sweet concoctions.  My latest drive is to make these wonderful guinness-chocolate cupcakes.

I found a terrific recipe for this batter which is set up for a cake, but I think cupcakes are so much more cute and convenient for serving to multiple people.  It describes a regular frosting but I use instead a Martha Stewart cream cheese frosting recipe.  I first found these recipes while looking for something to make for my fiance's cousin's graduation. She said she loves chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting so I started with that and tried to find something simple to make at home from scratch, but with a unique edge to it (thus the guinness!).  They must have been good because they were gone within the first 20 minutes of being set out with all the other food, and even my fiance who claims to dislike any sweets was pouting about not getting his own and having to share with me. 

This time around, as I was making them for a holiday party. I wanted to make the frosting green, but I strive to avoid artificial ingredients when possible.  Luckily I still had some matcha green tea in the cabinet and that stuff is pretty potent as a food dye.  I didn't add much because I was nervous about the flavor coming through, but I did achieve a nice pale green color. 

Completed with some festive wrapping paper by Reynolds and gorgeous gold sprinkles, they look great!  For someone else of course, I'm not much for sweets ;) But I certainly can't wait to share these!

I'll have a Yule-Christmas...

It's here! The holiday season.  While some are instantly excited, like my loving fiance, others find this time of year to mean instant stress and awkward conversation.  Do you call it Christmas or Yule? Do you wish Happy Hannukah to whom it applies, or resort to the generic Happy Holidays?

I'll admit that upon first becoming comfortable with calling myself Wiccan, I almost went super Pagan and decided that Christmas was offensive.  I felt "Christmas trees" and nativity scenes were signs of ignorance that the December holiday is really a remnant of the week-long festival Saturnalia, honoring the Roman god for whom our Saturday is named (among several other Pagan traditions).  Then I realized, I was no better than any other close-minded religious person.

What is the reason for the season anyway?  While I still feel a slight twinge at the "Jesus is the reason for the season" bumper stickers.... I try to remember they are just happy to celebrate their god and the season he represents.  If you take away the specific deities, Jesus or Saturn or Frey, and take away the presents and decorations...what is it about?  Winter Solstice marks the completion of the Wheel of the Year as the light of the sun returns.  There is no better time to share in thousand-year old traditions with loved ones.  The ancients celebrated the end of the cold, dark parts of the year as well as the end of their labor to rejoice in the new year and the new possibilities it will bring. So too, can we celebrate what we have reaped throughout the year and take advantage of this break from our work to prepare for a new year.  In that way, there is little between Pagans, Christians, Jews and anyone else.  We can all celebrate love, light and happiness by any name. For a Christmas by any other name, would bring gingerbread cookies just as sweet!

On that note, I have found a great blog post from one of my favorite authors about ways to reduce your stress this holiday season.
Enchanting the Day: Cut the Guilt
 I have definitely put the concept of foregoing gifts one year on my to-do list. I would love to focus on decorating the house with my love and hosting parties with drinks and food and fun for my friends and family rather than the best sales or parking spots at the mall.  I hope you all find a way to cut the stress out of your holiday season and remember that we all have the same goal here, to take a break from our crazy lives and remember to love each other.  And maybe for me, getting a few of those remaining wedding crafts done that have been laying around my office!