Okay, after agonizing and changing my mind (which I still reserve the right to do later!), I think I have finally come up with my menus for the next two sabbat feasts. I have the decorations all planned out for the table though thanks to Martha Stewart and the bounty of fruit and veggies with candles plopped into them! Huzzah!

Fall Equinox
Salad – Grape and Apple Salad
Soup – Black Bean Soup
Bread – Corn bread
Main Course – Yam Enchiladas
Side – Roasted Carrots
Dessert – Pomegranate Sorbet and Shortbread

Samhain
Appetizer – Monkey Bread (A specialty of a beloved great-grandmother)
Soup – Yam and Acorn Squash Soup
Bread – Onion Shortcake
Main Course – Spinach-Stuffed Pork Chops
Sides – “Magical” Mushrooms, Baked Butternut Squash, and Baked Apples
Dessert – Pumpkin Bread and Vanilla Ice Cream

Last night while I was trying to meditate, my cat came and threw up in front of me. Thanks, Mouse. Way to completely challenge my budding meditation routine.

There are so many things going on right now in my apartment, and I’m really happy about it – Save for my Siamese cat having such a finicky stomach. Mainly it’s stuff that I’m doing.

The Pagan Book Club starts today, and I’m really, really excited. Evolutionary Witchcraft has been a sort of call to home for me so far. It’s been so utterly intuitive. I really look forward to incorporating some of it into my practice. I also look forward to having people to discuss with, because I think it’s going to bring such a fuller experience to learning.

Then there are my wands that I’m working on. My friend, Deronda, was kind enough to send me some willow branches from her tree (despite feeling goofy sending sticks through the mail), and my mother was sweet enough to let me run off with her crystals. One is for me, one is a gift, and one is possibly for selling (I’m thinking about opening a secondary Etsy store for my random Pagan-related crafts). I plan on having a full blog post about how I made my wands.

I have my new altar to dedicate on the next full moon, which is coming up really fast! There’s a lot of cleaning to be done on the bedroom because of it, and it’s just not going as quickly as I’d like it to. I have to remind myself that slow and steady win the race – Though I will probably end up having one giant marathon cleaning to get it done since I work the next two days. I plan on having another full blog post on this, too.

I’ve had a lot of fun lately looking up things on herbalism. This has been one of my interests since I was a little girl, but lately I’ve been more serious about it. I really want to find something to help with my fatigue if at all possible, but it gets more complicated with all of my prescriptions.

The bay leaves for my ants unfortunately haven’t worked. I’m going to suck it up and resort to a borax mix to get rid of them, I’m afraid. I hate killing the little buggers, but the last thing I need is a full-blown invasion of them into my home – Mr. NaW(the boyfriend) would freak out.

Okay, that’s it for now. Hopefully I will have the energy to update tomorrow on something… Anything at all. Until next time!

I wish I had taken a photo of how this turned out, but I wasn’t really banking on it being FREAKING DELICIOUS. I just sort of threw together ingredients I had about the kitchen, and it must have been an inspired moment. This is what made last night for dinner:

Potato Frittata on Ciabatta Bread with Easy Aioli Sauce
Serves 4

Frittata:
2 large russet potatoes
6 eggs, beaten
2 T. extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
½ C Sharp cheddar cheese

Aioli Sauce:
1 ½ T mayonnaise
½ of a large lemon
4 cloves of garlic, minced

4 Ciabatta rolls or large pieces of bread
Tomato slices (optional but highly suggested)

Preheat oven to 450.

1. In a large skillet or pan and on medium-high heat, place a layer of potatoes down in 1 tablespoon of your olive oil. Cook until golden brown, turn, and repeat on the other side. Put potatoes on plate with paper towel to drain off the oil. Repeat this process until all of the potatoes are cooked.

2. Layer all the potatoes into the skillet and turn the heat up to high. Add the other tablespoon of oil. Pour eggs over the potatoes, tipping the skillet so that the eggs run under the potatoes.

3. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cook until the egg is almost cooked all the way through. When it gets to this point, carefully ease the frittata onto a large plate. Turn it over onto the skillet. Cook for 2 more minutes.

4. Sprinkle cheddar cheese over the top and set aside.

5. Mix mayo, lemon juice, and garlic together.

6. Drizzle mixture onto sliced Ciabatta rolls and place in oven for 6 minutes.

7. Portion frittata and place on rolls. Top with tomato slices. Serve open face.

I’ve been inspired today to write about Hestia/Vesta and my emerging relationship with her.

At first I thought I was supposed to be calling her by the name Hestia, but in the last couple days I’ve become more and more convinced that she wants me to call her Vesta. There’s a statue of Vesta that I’m absolutely coveting for my kitchen above the stove. Then came finding this beautiful prayer to her that resonates greatly with me out of Classical Living: Reconnecting with the Rituals of Ancient Rome by Frances Bernstein:

Every morning I wake up and clean off my oven for her. I light a stick of incense and tell her good morning. This morning I added sweeping the kitchen floor to my humble little ritual, because it seems her realm in my home is slowly extending outwards – A welcome presence at that!

You see, my apartment is an utter wreck. About the time I started this blog, I decided to get back into my spirituality and actively practicing my religious beliefs – Which meant I had to rebuild altars that have been sadly vacant in my home.

I stumbled across an article (http://www.wiggage.com/witch/hestia.html) on Hestia being the goddess of the hearth and home. Not that I didn’t know it already, but that seemed to launch me into a frenzy of sorts – a good frenzy at that. Suddenly my mind was cleared of seeing my apartment as one huge mess, and it was turned into manageable tasks in the kitchen. Then it turned into motivation to actually keep the kitchen clean.

Behold, gentle readers! Duty to a goddess has revolutionized my cleaning habits! Spirituality has begun to give me the motivation to strive to neat and tidy! Kitchen witchery is turning me into a domestic priestess!

Seriously, though, my life has been revolutionized by it. My Virgo boyfriend is thrilled. My energy pathways in the house are clearing up and getting a little less funky – Which seems to be helping with my AD/HD (have you noticed I’m a mess, yet?). I’m finding myself actually happy to be doing cleaning instead of it feeling like a chore.

It’s been rainy today, and I’m afraid that what we like to refer to as my mystery disease (most likely fibromyalgia and/or chronic fatigue syndrome) has reared its ugly head in the last few days. Therefore I’ve been mainly in bed sleeping or wandering around in pain. This isn’t how I wanted to spend days off, but I guess one day off is the trade in for having to call into work yesterday. I’m trying to be better about not complaining about this whole situation to others, but it’s damned hard not to. The even bigger challenge? Trying to find a spiritual answer and lesson in the midst of it all, let me tell you. I’m working on it, but I’m not quite there yet.

I’m off to read again. The boyfriend is good enough to me that tonight he’s fixing dinner, so all I have to do is lie in bed and read. Hope you’re having a wonderful day out there!

Apologies for this not being the prettiest of postings lay-out wise. Blogger is giving me fits, and all I want to do is post today! Argh!

I’m a rock hound. It’s one of the reasons I got into jewelry-making, and I’ve spent many years studying the metaphysical properties of stones and crystals. I just love them. I’ve collected since I was a little girl, and this was encouraged by my mother and father.

Now my mother is also a rock hound. In fact, her collection is much, much bigger than mine. She has her bookshelves littered with books and crystals in various colors and shapes. It’s really beautiful.

I’m in the process of making a wand, so I asked her if she had any spare spirit cactus points (also known as amethyst stalactites or even fairy points). My intuition told me that these were the stones I needed for my wand.

Well, she dragged out her boxes of extra crystals and told me to pick out what I wanted. Not just of the fairy points, but the other boxes too. I was in absolute heaven yesterday. So now I’m going to brag and show you what I picked out for myself, and the few others I found for friends that have done things for me recently as a thank you.

Purple Fluorite cluster. I’m going to put this on my little altar to… I’m not sure who. They’ve not exactly shown up yet, though I’m feeling the urge to build an altar anyway. This one will go above my desk that I make jewelry at.

These are red hematite in quartz. I absolutely love these. The photos don’t do justice to the worlds inside of them. I can’t wait to start working with the two I’ll be keeping.

These are the two spirit points that I will be putting into my wand. I’m doing a double-ended wand, which I wasn’t planning on, but when I found these two sitting together I knew it had to be.

They are amethyst and citrine mixed together – Sometimes called ametrine.

More spirit cactus:

Arkansas Quartz Crystals:
Tibetan Quartz Crystals:

Lately I’ve been trying to make some positive changes in my life. It’s that time of year when I start feeling the pull towards making my life more… Complete isn’t the right word, but it’s the closest one I can think of at six o’clock in the morning. Fulfilling! That’s the word I’m looking for. I figured this year instead of waiting for Samhain to come along to start with resolutions, I’d just do them early since I’ve been in the mood to.

In order to keep myself in line, I figured I might as well post my resolutions up onto my blog. That way maybe I’ll feel the need to keep up with them when I don’t feel like it. So here goes…

1. I will wean myself off the bottle. Not milk. Not alcohol. Soda. Glorious diet cherry Pepsi soda. I drink way, way too much of it, and I don’t want to drink it anymore at home. I’ve decided when I’m out to eat I will treat myself to it. So lately I’ve worked on drinking more tea with stevia, which I’ve actually found myself falling in love with even more than soda. I drink a couple cups of mate before meditating. I try, though not my hardest, to drink a glass of water in between glasses of other things, but you can’t change everything at once and expect to stick with it.

2. I will keep my apartment clean. This one is hard, hard, and hard. I’m a busy girl. I’m a Libra (living with a Virgo. Yikes!). I have been diagnosed with AD/HD. I have a world of excuses as to why my apartment is a cluttered mess. But seriously, the excuses need to stop. My home is supposed to be a sanctuary and temple. Making this a spiritual duty has made it easier on me lately.

You should see my spotless kitchen! I started there, because the kitchen is the modern hearth, the place of nurturing and altar to Hestia. I’m keeping it clean for this month. Next month I start in on the bedroom, which is where I’m going to keep my new altar. I’m going from room to room month by month. I’ve been trying FLYlady, but it’s just not working for me the way it is at this point (Though I love it). So I’m making up my own rituals and plans to get my apartment prettified.

3. I will get back into my spirituality. This one is off to a great start! I have this blog to thank, all the encouragement that’s come via comments from people, and all the great blog posts I’ve been reading by other authors. Thank you so much. Ya’ll are the best.

4. I will celebrate the wheel of the year. I’m actually really excited about this one. I have big dinners planned for the next two sabbats where I’ve invited my parents to come celebrate, too. I’m not the biggest formal ritual girl, but I’m going to give it more of a go. Rituals can be simple. They don’t all have to be as formal as the ones I used to carry out as a teenager (straight from books).

5. I will, however, try to keep up on my daily devotions and rituals. Like I’ve taken to cleaning my stove every morning to the point where it sparkles for Hestia. And when I wash my face and brush my teeth, I pray to Apollo – God of Purification and one of my patrons. I’m still trying to think of something to do for Hecate, but I’ll get there – Suggestions are welcome, of course! (I do need to keep up on my monthly new moon devotions to her.)

—

There’s a lot more, but I think for now five is enough. Change doesn’t happen overnight, and if I load myself up too much I won’t change at all.

(Whoops, this was supposed to go up Friday. I guess I’ll have to double post today. Jeez.)

This is probably horrible, but in my world feast days are days where calories and healthy living don’t exist. The rest of the year I will worry about it, but give me butter or give me death on my high holy days.

Right now I’m in the process of working up a feast for my father, step-mother, and boyfriend for Fall Equinox. The menu is looking varied. I have a vegetarian and a diabetic at the table for this meal, so I’m working with a lot of restrictions. So it might be death instead of butter when it comes to some things.

Therefore, I suggest – Nay, I demand – that you make these to share with your loved ones on the Fall Equinox.

Note: I eyeball a lot of things. The crust isn’t eyeballed, but the dumpling part is. Allow for some give or take the first time you make this.

My Favorite Apple Dumplings

Crust:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 t. of salt
½ cups canola oil
½ cup ice water

1. In a large bowl, stir together the flour and salt.
2. Stir in the oil and 3 T of the ice water.
3. Slowly add more water to form stiff dough
4. Chill
5. Divide dough in half and roll out as directed in specific recipes

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Apple Dumplings

The crust you made above OR two 9” pre-made crusts (but trust me that the crust above is so easy that you might as well do it)
6 medium tart apples (I like Granny Smiths or Jonathans, but any apple will do in a pinch)
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
3 T butter
1 t cinnamon
¼ t nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1 ½ cup cinnamon
more butter

1. Roll out dough a little less than 1/8” thick and cut into 6-7” squares
2. Pare and core your apples
3. Boil the next 5 ingredients (sugar, water, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg) for three minutes to make a syrup.
4. Fill apple cavities with mixture of cinnamon and sugar.
5. Dot each cavity with butter (I use about ½ T on each one, but feel free to use a lot less!)
6. Bring each corner of your pastry crust up over the apple. Moisten. Seal.
7. Carefully move dumpling to a sturdy baking dish. (I use a 9×13 and it gives it a little extra room)
8. Pour the hot syrup around but not onto the dumplings
9. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until apples are soft and crust is a pretty golden brown
10. Serve warm with syrup drizzled over the dumplings and possibly some good vanilla icecream.
11. Pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

For the first time in my life, I feel like I need a Grimoire. I don’t want to call it a Book of Shadows, because that title has never sat right with me. Actually the need for this has caused me to be unable to blog for a few days (That and pain, but that’s another day’s entry, I guess).

What has really tripped me up currently is trying to put down onto “paper” the holidays and feasts that I celebrate. The main reason is that I really haven’t celebrated anything other than secular holidays in quite a long time – Save Saturnalia. The secondary reason is that I want to have set holidays/feasts for my Greek pantheon, because my personal gnosis says that’s okay for me, personally, to do. Or I should at least be able to plan out a year in advance with it.

However, has anyone else tried to find a proper Hellenist calendar before? I’m probably being lazy, but the one that I feel is reliable is complicated. I followed it at one time, but now I’m left with this sense of “Whoa, whoa, whoa” any time I look at it. It follows the Greek months by name and the months go by the moon instead of what we’re used to.

Dear Hellenists,

Pleast idiot-proof your calendars for those of us that are lazy.

kthnxbai,
Meganne

I have a giant list, and I’m not sure which I want to really follow. I have Neo-pagan, Hellenist, and Modern Secular holidays charted out.

So tell me… What holidays/feasts do you celebrate?