I don't remember buying this book...

but I'm glad I did.

While reading through some of my other books for my last blog, I found this neat little book. The Witch's Journal (currently out of stock there sorry.) (Don't buy it from amazon its listed as like $64.00 WTF rapist!)  This is a great review of the book :D

So, basically, I pulled all my books off the shelf and checked for the word hand-fasting in the index. Those are the books I kept off for the blog. Now, out of the 7 or so I used 2 for the blog. The reason for this is sometimes in the index it just shows the word hand-fasting is used on a page. For example, one book mentions hand-fasting in a small piece on Lammas. The two I chose to use had small pieces on hand-fasting. This book mentions it on a page about brooms which is what I'm about to share with you! :D I heart brooms.

Jumping the Broom:
This custom, originating from both Wales and Africa, is continued in Wiccan weddings (hand-fastings) today. Following the ceremony, the couple step over the broom to bless their fertility and their union. The broom is typically decorated with flowers and ribbons, and hung in a prominent place in the couple's home after the wedding.

Brooms and Protection:
According to folklore, a broom hung over or near a doorway with the bristles pointed up will protect the home from negative energy.

How to Make a Broom:
You can find decorative twig brooms in craft and home-decorating stores during the fall, but you can also make your own.

1. Soak the bristle material in water overnight. let it dry for a few hours until it is supple but not waterlogged. 
2. Arrange a layer of bristles around the base of the branch and tie tightly with twine
3. Add another layer, building outward until the bristles reach the desired fullness and shape.
4. Add a final layer, with 6 inches (15 cm) of bristle covering the broom handle. Wrap the twine securely around the top layer 3 inches (7.5 cm) from the base of the handle. Fold the bristles over the twine to hide it. Tie a length of twine tightly near the top of the bundle. Tie a second length about 2 inches (5 cm) down. 
5. If you wish, decorate the handle or the top of the bristle bundle with crystals, paint, or carvings. 

Handle Woods: 

The broom handle can be made from a variety of sturdy branches. The following are the most common:

• Birch
• Hazel
• Ash
• Oak

Bristle Materials:

• Straw
• Wheat
• Twigs, such as Willow
• Lavender
• Mugwort
• Thyme

Hand-fastings. Something I haven't blogged on about before.

For those of you curious, the last royal wedding was a hand-fasting. (Did you see that gold ribbon around the hands of Will and Kate?

Hand-fasting is a timeless Celtic tradition. Something so lovely and real about ribbons for the pretty show; and rope to remind you that you now have another responsibility.

Grimiore for the Apprentice Wizard cite hand-fasting as marriage, for as long as the love shall last. And if they should someday decide to part, a ceremony of hand-parting will allow them to do so with honor and good will.

To Light a Sacred Flame lists that there are three types of hand-fastings.

1. Ceremonial: A ceremony performed for a year and a day
2. Legal: A legal ceremony performed for life under the rules and regulations of state law
3. Spiritual: A ceremony performed for this lifetime and beyond. 

You will also find a step by step ceremony for a hand-fasting in To Light a Sacred Flame, along with this list of herbs for marriage: 

• Aconite
• Apple
• Basil
• Broom
• Caraway
• Coriander
• Elderflower
• Ginger
• Holly
• Ivy
• Jasmine
• Lavender
• Lemon Verbena
• Licorice
• Lotus
• Maple
• marjoram
• Mistletoe
• Orchid
• Rose
• Rosemary
• Skullcap
• Yarrow

If you're planning to tie your life to another's and you want a traditional ceremony, but you aren't by any means looking to do it in a church or a court house here is a list of officiants by state. 

I recommend a cat if your just feeling lonely and you have no partner or if your partner is an asshat.  

That is all! 

 

The Dogs are holding me hostage.

Athena, my baby beagle or the mountain cur or my favorite rescue mutt, has gotten herself into a frenzy over car rides recently. So much of a frenzy that she now chases all the way down our driveway and into the main highway to catch a ride. She never used to do this. It's a recent behavior. Great lengths have been taken to keep her out of traffic while I leave for work or errands that dogs can't tag a long with. Goddess forbid someone break my window, because the dog is closed inside. As recent dream has revealed I kill over my Jeep. I'd more than likely cause severe torture and then death over my dog. Back to great lengths, she now not only knows how to open the sliding glass door, but she can unlock the lock on the door, AND she can lift the bar that blocks it from sliding! Dogs are smart. It's been so muddy recently and so cold that I don't want her in the Jeep. I just spent the weekend cleaning the mud and rocks out of it. I'd like it to remain smelly nice for a little while. While you might think this behavior is a "she misses me behavior," its not. When I'm home, she tucks herself away in a hole and sleeps the day away so she can torment me and keep me up all night with the let the doggy out to bark at the darkness, let the doggy in to lay on your extremities til they are numb and you can't walk to let the doggy out dance. She's so mean to me. I'm not allowed to leave and I'm not allowed to sleep.

Much to my displeasure, I'm being held hostage.

So here's a picture of my dogs last car ride. I took her a mile down the road to the dollar store and bought her a bag of her favorite "beefys."

April Magick Mail :D

So, this is the stuff words are made of!

Random Gifts of being sick- Oil Blends for Star Signs!

So, I was cleaning up my altar and reorganizing it and picked this little guy up and toted  him all over the house. I completely forgot how nice it is to have a squishy when you feel icky.

I had to get a little exercise in, So naturally, I went shopping. Found some new books and a deck of cards.... IKR like I needed more books and cards. . .

I've flipped through the Incense, Oils and Brew book, shuffled through the cards. and now I'm admiring all the perfectly photographed crystals in 101 Power Crystals (Ya'll its a Judy Hall book so you know its good.) 

Any way. I thought I'd do a little blog and give you some oil blends for your Star sign, because I'm "resting" so WTF else am I gonna do?

Straight to you from my new found Gem The Complete Book of Incense, Oils & Brews by Scott Cunningham

Don't forget diluting 

"As a general guideline, add 5 to 7 drops to 1/8 cup of base oil, such as jojoba. This dilutes the essential oil so that it won't irritate the skin, but you will still be able to smell it."

Instructions for these oils are "Wear as a personal oil to increase your own powers"

In ABC order (cause its in the book that way)

Aquarius Oil

5 drops Lavender

1 drop Cypress

1 drop Patchouli

Aries Oil

3 drops Frankincense

1 drop Ginger

1 drop Black Pepper

1 drop Petitgrain

Cancer Oil

4 drops Palmarosa

1 drop Camomile

1 drop Yarrow

Capricorn Oil

3 drops Vetivert

2 drops Cypress

1 drop Patchouli

Gemini Oil

4 drops Lavender

1 drop Peppermint

1 drop Lemongrass

1 drop Sweet Pea Bouquet

Leo Oil

3 drops Petitgrain

1 drop Orange

1 drop Lime

Libra Oil

4 drops Rose Geranium

2 drops Ylang-Ylang

2 drops Palmarosa

Or

1 drop Rose absolute or otto

1 drop Cardamom

Pisces Oil

3 drops Ylang-Ylang

3 drops Sandalwood

1 drop Jasmine 

Sagittarius Oil

4 drops Rosemary

2 drops Oakmoss Bouquet

1 drop Clove

Scorpio Oil

3 drops Pine

2 drops Cardamom

1 drop Black Pepper

Taurus Oil

4 drops Oakmoss Bouquet

2 drops Cardamom

1 drop Ylang-Ylang

Virgo Oil

4 drops Oakmoss Bouquet

2 drops Patchouli

1 drop Cypres

March Magic MAIIIIILLLLL TIIIMMMEEEE

Mushroom- One to eat, One not to eat.

Common Name: Veiled Oyster

Width of Cap: 1 1/2- 4 inches

Cap: Convex at first, becoming more or less flattened, margin inrolled, often ragged with partial veil remnants; White to cream or pale yellow; surface cottony to scaly in the center, especially evident in older specimens; flesh thick and tough, odor usually pleasant, somewhat anise-like or sour in older specimens

Gills: Decurrent, sub-distant to moderately close; white to cream or yellowish

Stalk: More or less equal or enlarged downward, central to eccentric, at times nearly lateral; whitish, velvety, with a thin cottony to membranous ring on the upper stalk that becomes inconspicuous or may disappear with age. 

Spore Print: White
Occurance: Solitary or in small clusters on logs, stumps, and trunks of broad-leaved trees, also on trunks of living trees; saprobic; summer-fall; occasional

Edibility: Edible

Common Name: Hornemann's Stropharia; Lacerated Stropharia

Width of Cap: 2-5 inches 

Cap: Convex to broadly bell-shaped, becoming flattened with age, often with a broad umbo; color variable from cinnamon-brown or reddish brown to dingy yellowish brown, often tinged violet, and olivaceous gray on the margin; surface smooth and viscid, with scattered whitish fragments of a partial veil at the margin, at least when young, flesh white to pale yellowish, odor and taste not distinctive.

Gills: Adnate, sometimes with slightly decurrent lines at the stalk apex, moderately close; whitish at first, becoming smoky purplish gray, but gill edges remaining white. 

Stalk: Equal; whitish, covered with dense cottony scales from the base upward to a persistent flaring membranous ring, smooth above the ring, base with white cord-like rhizomorphs.

Spore Print: Purple-brown
Occurance: Sometimes solitary but more often in groups on or around well-decayed logs and stumps of conifer wood, also reported to occur on wet mossy ground; saprobic; late summer-fall; uncommon

Edibility: Not Edible