Goddess Of The Week - Hindu Goddess Saraswati

Since I'm trying to learn a song very quickly thought it would be appropriate to write about a Music Goddess so I chose the Hindu Goddess Saraswati. She is the Goddess of all the creative arts.

She holds a Mala and a palm leaf scroll (in this picture represented by a book) indicating knowledge.

It is likely she was originally a river Goddess as her name in Sanskrit means she who has the "lakes and pools". As a water Goddess she represents fertility and prosperity, and is associated with purity and creativity particularly in communication.

It's said without her there is only chaos and confusion she embodies all that is pure in nature. The white sari she wears reflects her essential purity and her rejection of all that is base and materialistic. To realize her we must transcend the pleasures of the senses and rejoice in the serenity of the spirit.

Clik the Rainbow Squid below to read my full article about Goddesses on Squidoo.

My Sunday Blessing - My Guitar.

The Guitar is A Honer Spanish classical acoustic that has been in my family since the mid 80's and is more than 30 years old. You can see the capo I use in the picture too, it's also very old, and a friend said when he saw it on the table it looked like some sort of medieval torture device I was inclined to agree, as it actually does.

At least 3 people have learned to play the Guitar on it the varnish has worn off the neck where C G and D are as a result. It has a nice sound and is light to have hanging around your neck for hours while you practice, It's getting quite famous now as there are a few photo's of me around holding it :).

It's nice to learn to play on a guitar that has such a history related to my own family as it does, when I get good I'll qualify to have a hand me down that can hold steel strings the only downfall of this guitar is it can't, the neck would bend with the tension. This isn't such a bad thing for a learner like me as I would slice my fingers to shreds learning on steel strings. I've been playing it loads this week trying to Learn "Stranger To Himself" by Sandy Denny and Fairport Convention in time for Tuesday, I might do it as well at the rate I'm going so wish me luck.

My blogging schedule will be returning to normal after Tuesday, if you need any info about Goddesses and Herbs there's a new plug in installed in my left side bar to give you the herb and Goddess of the day while I get my blogging act together.

Been Very Busy.

Sorry for the disruption to me usual blogging schedule, I am trying to learn to play a song in time for the folk club at Arreton Barns by next Tuesday. So this means lots of guitar practice and less time for blogging, I've also started singing lessons again and intend to do my grades this time.

I'll be doing one day of frantic blogging tomorrow or Saturday to make up for the posts I've missed, and thanks to everyone who's been dropping by anyway.

Pretty Bits Part Geek Part Chic

My usual Monday Pagan book review has been usurped in place of a thank you to Mabel at "Pretty bits part Chic Part Geek" a digital graphics blog, She created the button for my Book Shop you can see to the left and the banner now displayed in my shop, they are made in photoshop I think.

I didn't expect them to be animated so that was a nice surprise I'm very impressed with them, her ideas are fantastic and she made them for a donation so big thanks to her. If anyone has any Graphic requests you can contact her through her Blog (the Post title is the link), she comes highly recommended by me anyway.

Tomorrow I'll be reviewing "Rune Power" By Kenneth Meadows, so tune in then :).

My Sunday Blessing - Music

Music is important to me and has got me through some rough times in my life, listening to music can be great healer or bring back painful memories it is a powerful force. there are songs that remind me of people I once knew who are gone, and songs that remind me of people I still know.

Life would be so different if we didn't have music, a world without music is unimaginable to me my earliest memories are all of songs. Members of my family are musicians, my mother sang the Blues and my dad wishes he was Bob Dylan :) . I'm learning to play the guitar now myself and have been a singer for a few years, soon I'll be able perform at least one song completely on my own ( I do do some songs unaccompanied anyway, but it will be great to be able accompany myself on guitar).

Goddess Of The Week Felicitas.

Since today is the day she was traditionally honored I thought I'd write about Felicitas.

She is a Roman Goddess and is said to be the Goddess of Good Fortune, success and happiness, as well as prosperity particularly agricultural. She was a favorite Goddess of the Emperors and their Generals, she was also associated with the Roman imperial family. Though there was a temple built for her as early as the second Century BC there is no myth associated with her. The only picture I could find (above left) of her was on a coin where she apparently often appeared.

So today would be a good day to call upon her for success and happiness if you need some. :) Click the Rainbow Squid below to read my full article about Goddesses on Squidoo.

Magical Herb Of The Week - Lavender.

Lavender is a very popular plant I grow myself as it has many uses both magical and around the home, you can even make biscuits from it.

It is said to attract love which lets face it we could all do with more of. It's long been believed to attract men I even read this has been scientifically proven
it's down to a pheromone in it.

Hundreds of years ago the oil was worn by prostitutes to attract men magically, and to identify them as "ladies of the night". Yet during the Renaissance it was believed to protect a woman's chastity if worn with Rosemary. So some conflicting stories there maybe people forget about the hooker thing or something. It's also said to to protect from cruel treatment by your partner if worn on it's own.

I use the essential oil for relaxation as I suffer from insomnia, burning or smouldering these flowers is also said to induce sleep.

If you place a piece of Lavender under your pillow just before you go to bed and think about a wish, then find you dreamt of your wish you will achieve it, if however you don't dream of it you will not. I'm going to try that one myself when my plants grow back in the summer see if it works.

It's also been used to aid seeing ghosts (by carrying it) and worn to stop yourself getting the Evil Eye.

I found an interesting web page on Lavender here if you'd like to read more about this herb, and if anyone knows how to make these Lavender Biscuits please let me know as I'd love to try making them.

Pagan Books - Review - Goddesses And Angels- By Doreen Virtue.

Doreen Virtue has a PH.D. in counseling Psychology, is fourth generation meta physician and works with the Angelic elemental and ascended masters in her writings, and she also does workshops on angel therapy. Doreen Virtue has famously designed many angel cards and also does Angel readings.

She has written over 20 books as well as Goddesses And Angels: Awakening Your Inner High-priestess and Source-eress on many subjects including Rainbow children, Chakras and Angels. She also designed the angel cards that are becoming increasingly popular, Her website angeltherapy.com is here.

The first and main part of the book is about the authors spiritual journey and how different Goddesses and Angels helped her along the way. She travels to some pretty interesting and sometimes exotic places too including Sedona, Hawaii, the Polynesian Island of Moorea, and Lourdes, she even visits a goddess temple in Glastonbury England (the town not the festival). She also discusses her discoveries about the new rainbow children (children with strong psychic powers often misdiagnosed with ADHD, or ADD to American readers), The Merpeople and Lemuria.

The second (and much smaller) section is about the Goddesses and Angels themselves, It's like a Goddess/Angel guidebook if you will, and what situations you should call on them to help you with, this part is easy to use and understand. The Goddesses and Angels particular powers are all listed in one part as a chart, and then all the Goddesses are listed in a another section with a small write up about them. She only talks about the major Goddesses, but a book about all of them would be massive so I can understand why. It's a nice book about angels and goddesses to have if you don't require much detail just a short description.

I found this book very useful and got a lot from reading it personally, I found many parts of Doreen's spiritual journey quite moving to read about and would recommend this book to Witches and pagans and also anyone who wants to find out more about The Goddesses and Angels and how to call upon them for assistance.

Dooreen Virtues Book available on Amazon Now

My Pagan Book Store.

I've just opened a pagan book shop with Amazon UK to compliment my Pagan Book reviews, please visit it and have a look there are some fantastic books at very cheap prices. It's where I get most of my books except those I buy in local book shops, but selection of Pagan books I've found since searching the internet is astounding and I'm glad to launch a book store to publicise them. Amazons selection of Pagan Books leaves my local book shops in the dust for certain, the range of books available is far greater than I ever thought.

I spent a while designing the colours and selecting a banner and would like peoples feed back on the place, so if you look please leave a comment about it. It's great to have a store where I can sell the type of books I want to sell, other internet book shops I've had have had restrictions on what I can sell and I've had to sell books on all types of crappy subjects. I hope my Pagan readers find the shop useful and see something they like, you can never have too many books on the craft :). The post title is the link or you can just click here to see it. I'll try and create a banner or button for it, if anyone can help with that please leave a comment.

BB

Update 30/03/09- There's now categories for herbal medicine books and other pagan items including Anointing Oil. You can find the store from the widget in the sidebar to the right.

My Sunday Blessing - My Hands

My hands are very important to me and having full use of them is a blessing to me, I like to play musical instruments and sew and knit and make other home crafts, without full use of my hands I couldn't do any of these things (or would at least have great difficulty).

I'd even have trouble blogging without the full use of my hands unless I had voice recognition software to type for me, if you think about it there thousands of things we couldn't do easily without our hands and full use of them. I have friends who through brain damage or arthritis cannot use there hands fully anymore they have trouble doing basic tasks people with full use of their hands take for granted like peeling vegetables and even picking up any object. I admire their adaptability and how they manage without this thing we take for granted, and the many inventions created to help them with day to day tasks.

If you want take part in blog your blessings Sunday look here for more info and to be added to the blogroll.

Which Goddess Are You? And What Element Are You?

You Are Artemis!

Brave, and a natural born leader. You're willing to fight for what you believe in... And willing to make tough decisions. Don't forget - the people around you have ideas too!

What Goddess Are You?

I found a great meme for anyone who wants to use it, I won't tag anyone just use it if you want to.

I also found another good one

Your Element is Wood

Your power colors: green and brown Your energy: generative Your season: spring Like a tree, you are always growing and changing. And while your life is dynamic, you are firmly grounded. You have high morals and great confidence in yourself and others. You have a wide set of interests, and you make for intersting company.

What Element Are You?


And here's a gazoo

Magical Herb/Plant Of The Week - Rosemary

One of my favorite herbs, it's easy to grow (and is grown to attract elves apparently) smells beautiful, and has many culinary and Magical uses as well as healing properties. I use the essential oil in my bath to lift my spirits when I'm feeling unmotivated as it is a natural anti-depressant and is recommended as a tea for this purpose, another recommended cure for depression with Rosemary is to powder the leaves wrap them in linen cloth and bind it to your right arm.

When dried and burned as an incense it has purifying and cleansing qualities it is one of the oldest incenses, as an incense it is also said to promote love and lust. To ensure a good nights sleep free from nightmares place Rosemary under your pillow, and for protection while you sleep place it under the bed. If hung on the porch and door posts it keeps thieves from the house, it is also said to aid memory and preserve youthfulness when worn. To receive the answer to a question burn Rosemary on charcoal and smell it's smoke. It's also said to be lucky for brides and soothing at funeral parties.

Sources- "Cunningham's Encyclopedia Of Magical Herbs", and the care 2 website, Post title is a link to their interesting page about Rosemary.

Goddess Of The Week - Egyptian Goddess Isis

Isis is the Ancient Egyptian Goddess of rebirth, her other titles include "The giver of life"and the "Goddess of Magic". Her legend is complicated and there are apparently many different versions, but it goes something like this.

She was the daughter of Nut and Geb, and her husband was her Brother Osiris who she bought back from the dead after her other Brother Seth killed him. She gave birth to Horus who later became a sun God, she apparently got her Goddess like powers by convincing the Sun god Ra to reveal his secret name to her. She is one of the only and first Goddess's to wonder among women teaching them about useful skills like Weaving cloth and grinding corn to make bread. As well as motherhood and how to tame men to live with them. She also taught the people the skills of reading a agriculture. As a result of all this good work she became the model on which other female deities were based in other cultures, and became the embodiment of the complete female known as "The one who is All" and "Lady of Ten thousand names". She is also A moon Goddess

You can call upon her help with thing related to motherhood and womanhood, also sorcery and herbology.

My sources for this article were the book "Goddesses And Angels" by Doreen Virtue published by Hay House, an excellent book I'll be reviewing here soon. Also the website "the Goddess gift" which I have linked to the story of Isis on through the Post title, you can find much more detail about the legend of Isis there.
Click the Rainbow squid below To read my full article on Goddesses.

Also browse the selection of books on the subject I've found on Amazon below to find out more.

BB

My Craft Blog

Just a quick post to say I've started a new blog for my craft projects since as well as being a witch I'm into sewing, patchwork quilting and more recently knitting. The Post Title is a link to it have a look if you are interested and Blessed Be all my readers.

Pagan Books - Review - Every Woman A Witch - Cassandra Eason

Review moved to my book blog click here to see it.

Buy "Every Woman A Witch" On Amazon Now

My Sunday Blessing- My New Washer Dryer

My new washer dryer was a Christmas present from my father, I'm using it for the first time today though it arrived on the third. I am poor as a church mouse you see and had to wait for some money to buy washing powder and enough electricity in the meter to run it. As they say in the Guinness advert good things come to those who wait so I waited patiently and sure enough some money came.

It's the first washing machine I've ever called my own and I've always relied on launderettes and other peoples machines until now, so this really is blessing to me. As you can see it has futuristic looking flashing lights, and it's also quite quiet which you'll have to take my word for. It just about fits into the corner next to the cooker so there's no longer a huge washing machine shaped gap to fill in my Kitchen.

Magical Herb/Plant Of The Week - Fern

Ferns have many magical uses, when included in vases of flowers or planted on the doorstep they give the house protection. I have one in a pot in my living room of the same variety pictured called The Boston fern apparently one of the most popular houseplant varieties, it doesn't look as impressive as the one pictured however :).

If carried or worn then it will guide carrier to treasure and the seed is also carried for invisibility. It is also said that if you break the first frond of the spring from a fern you will have good luck, and if you bite it you will be protected from toothache for the rest of the year. If you drink Fern Sap you can obtain eternal youth apparently, and if you are standing in a place surrounded by ferns at midnight precisely Puck (pictured to the left) will come and give you a purse of Gold.

Throwing dried fern leaves on a fire exorcises evil spirits, and burning ferns outside causes it to rain. I remember when I re-potted my fern a hail storm started while I was outside doing it, and I was a bit spooked when I read about it in a book later.

there's an interesting page on the Fern in Wikipedia, I didn't know there were so many varieties, the study of the Fern is apparently called pteridology and a person who studies ferns is called a pteridologist.

Sources- "Cunninghams Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs" (reviewed below) and wikipedia.

Goddess Of The Week- Hindu Goddess Lakshmi

A Hindu and Buddhist Goddess of prosperity both material and spiritual and the wife of Vishnu, Lakshmi is depicted on a full bloom lotus blossom and holding a lotus bud which stands for beauty purity and fertility. She is an earth fertility and water Goddess, her four hands represent the four ends to human life Dharma (righteousness), Karma (desires), Artha (wealth), and Moksha (liberation from the cycle of birth and death).

A great Goddess to call on for this time of year when we've all spent too much and are worrying about money, as she can help you manifest abundance and stop worrying about money. But be warned she does not reside alongside anyone who is lazy or only desires her for wealth.

If you'd like more information about Lakshmi there's a great page with Free Hindu Goddess wallpapers as well as more information. The post title is also a link to a very informative page on about.com about her.
Click the Rainbow Squid below to read my full article about Goddesses on Squidoo.

Pagan Books - Review- Cunningham's encyclopedia Of Magical Herbs.

If you are looking for a guide to herbs for healing and the properties of herbs in general look no further than Encyclopaedia of Magical Herbs (Llewellyn's Sourcebook Series). The Book is one of the Cunningham book series and clearly laid out and easy to use, with many different herbs and flowers covered. Many common ones and a few herbs I'd never heard of and even objects I'd never have thought of as magical items, like carrots and potatoes are mentioned. It Gives you the name of the herb with a line drawing of it it's folk names gender planet element and powers, as well as it's magical uses great for wiccans and Pagans.

I'd recommend the book to anyone with an interest in herbs whether it be magical or not as it gives some fascinating information about the plants and their folk history. If your interest in them is magical then it's also very good as a reference book and has chapter on the powers of herbs and how to perform magic with them which is easy to understand, it explains how to charge herbs before using them in spells amongst other things.

I use this herb book quite regularly in my work and think it would give a valuable contribution to any pagan library.

Find "Cunningham's Encyclopedia Of Magical Herbs" on Amazon Now.

Happy New Year.

Happy New Year to all my readers.

Sorry I've missed the Sunday blessing this week I was having a new years eve party so I've been preparing for that, and I've been busy working on another blog and things relating to it.