WHO DAT!

I suspect that only in the rarest and most dire of circumstances have such fervent pleas fallen on the ears of the gods... my candles are burning...

GEAUX SAINTS!

Updates and Happenings...

Okay, WOW - it's been almost a month since I've posted! Things have been so crazy and I'm just now getting a chance to update on the recent happenings around my little witch cottage. Both the magickal and the mundane has kept me busy!

First, my OK trip...

Yes, I made it back from Oklahoma in one piece, despite my fear of flying, and I had an amazing time! I took a ton of pictures (which can be seen on the Witchy Living discussion and chat forum - join up if you'd like to peek) and overall enjoyed spending time with my sister-witch Arabi. It's always so relaxing up there - no noise, no stress - just hanging out eating her good cooking and meandering around to see the animals. EXCEPT, I didn't do much meandering because it was freakin' COLD. OMG was it cold! We drank lots of coffee and cocoa, worked on our oils and our book, and just hung out and enjoyed the company.

Our New Year's Eve/Blue Moon ritual was very quiet, very intense, and as we were to find out the very next day, very effective. The night of the ritual was beautiful. Arabi lives out in BFE and there is no city light pollution at all, so the night was 100% moonlit, and nothing else. The ground was covered with snow, and it all had an eerie blue glow. We had a fire going in the cauldron and that helped to keep us warm as well as add to the overall experience, which was truly energizing and fantastic!

On the home front...

My youngest daughter is due to give birth very soon. She's almost 38 weeks pregnant, and she's SOOO ready. Overall it's been a good pregnancy for her but the big belly has got her exhausted. In addition she is caring for a 16 month old alone while her DBF is working offshore for the next two weeks. They're worried that he's going to miss the birth, but he's been laid off for months now and they need him to work, so... Let's hope Judah Alexander times his arrival to when his daddy's home!

I've been doing a lot of walking WITHOUT my cane! I am bound and determined to kick this hip injury! My lawsuit finally settled and I am no longer under the thumb and camera of Worker's Comp, so I can now actively work on healing myself instead of waiting for them to approve me to do so. It's very liberating! I am still in a lot of pain a lot of the time, but I can deal. I'm just excited that I am getting better, even if progress is slow.

The hard freeze that we had a few weeks ago TORE up my garden and basically destroyed most of my plants. I've spent the last few days out there clipping and remulching, hoping to at least get some regrowth going for the spring. I've also started some seedlings - endive and genovese basil - and plan to get some more going in a few days. I'll be planting chives, cilantro, tomatoes, summer squash, and sunflowers this week! I love spring, and can't wait to spend more time in the garden.

On the magickal front...

The shop... ah, the shop. I have to tell you that I have been SO torn as of late. I am very eager to open a brick and mortar store (my inventory just for the online shop is overtaking my house), but finding the perfect spot, the AFFORDABLE spot, has been difficult. My husband is supportive and wants me to go for it. *I* am the one who is hesitant, mainly because of the money output - but I do believe that now is a good time to do it, for several reasons. So, as of right now, I do feel that this is the year for Witchy Living to "go live" - but it's going to take some time.

The Serum de Sorcieres' first collection, Les Soeurs, has been very popular with those who've purchased it - and I've gotten lots of positive reviews. Arabi and I are very proud of these oils and will have several more releases later this year. They will be as exquisite and luscious as the Sisters, so stay tuned!

I had a dream a few weeks ago and woke up to discover that my creative muse had blessed me with some amazing ideas! I wrote them all down, and so now I am also working on some new herbal blends, ritual kits, and other goodies for "Cairelle's Cupboard" (the section of my shop that is reserved for my own personal creations). I will be listing those in the shop sometime over the next few weeks. I'm just waiting for supplies to come in.

Overall - life is busy, but good, and I am trucking along as a happy and fulfilled witch. The new year has been fabulous thus far, and I am expecting lots of great things as it moves along. I do hope that your year is treating you the same!

(Photo credit to Kiri Oestergaard - what an amazing drawing, is it not?)

Oklahoma!

I am very happy! I'm leaving in the AM for a 6-day visit with my sister-witch, Arabi. She lives outside of Tulsa, OK - so I get to head north for a bit of cold weather and snow. I'm not sure if that's something that excites me - but I will be thrilled to see my girl again!

We're going to be doing some heavy-duty intensive work on a new line for our Serum de Sorcieres collection as well as making some headway on the outline and content of our upcoming book series. Lots to do in a few short days!

In addition to the working part, we're going to be doing a joint ritual for the full moon on New Year's Eve. It should be totally awesome. We've done rituals together before and I must say that they can be quite intense, and effective!

I'll be sure to take some pics to post when I return - of us, the snow, and Arabi's lovely horses (she owns a horse farm) - and I'll be back in New Orleans on January 4th.

Enjoy your New Year's Eve and the full moon!

Les Soeurs - The Sisters - have arrived!

I am SUPER pleased to announce that "Les Soeurs" - the first line of Serums de Sorcieres I've been so busily working on with my "oil partner" and sister witch Arabi - are now available, exclusively at Witchy Living's Crescent City Apotheca!

From the shoppe's website:

"Les Soeurs - The Sisters - are the Serums de Sorcieres that were created and blended to awaken and enhance your innate strengths as you work and live your craft every day. We all possess the ability to manifest power, wisdom, and passion - but true self-awareness of these aspects is key to a complete, well-rounded approach to witchcraft. Tap into your deepest inner witch and enrich your magickal workings with Les Soeurs!"

Stop by Witchy Living to learn more about this exquisite line of serums, and read about what's upcoming for 2010!

Okay, can we say OVERWHELMED?

I'm still alive - just crazy busy for the last few weeks. I've been talking non-stop with Arabi in regard to our new oil line - set to debut on Winter Solstice, dealing with Worker's Comp and attorneys in regard to my hip injury, revamping the shoppe yet again because I'm nuts and can't stand for things not to change up, managing multiple discussion forums, creating ads to get the word out on the oils and the shoppe, dealing with my pregnant hormonal daughter, eradicating termites, and overall just being run in twenty different directions at once.

AAAAAHHHHHHHH!

I will be returning full-time after the first of the year!

An Inspirational Blog Posting

Anna Trollvind, a member on my Witchy Living forum, recently posted the following in her blog there. I was blown away by her insight, totally inspired, and just had to share this particular piece of writing with my readers. Enjoy!

I have walked the solitary witch's path for about 16 years now, along with the shamanic, and many times these two paths have come together, other times the trail has separated into two just to be bound together again later. It is an exciting, evolving, sometimes difficult and lonely road, but also a road full of rewards, wonderful surprises and laughter and above all new friends where you least expected them.

For me, witchcraft is a way of life. I strive every day to live in harmony with creation, as much as I can according to the knowledge I have today. My knowledge is growing all the time, because it is part of my wichiness, to constantly learn more and develop my understanding of everything. So tomorrow, I will know a little more and I can be even more in harmony with everything.

Being a witch, to me, is choosing how my life should be. I am not separate from the Divine, but I am a part of it while I am also a co-creator. I live close to Mother Earth, I learn from her how life works. My body is a mirror of Mother Earth. I too have an internal Moon clock governing my cycles and an internal Sun keeping my creativity burning. I have inner stars who are my inspiration and my clear-sightedness. And I have Seasons. By following the outer lunar cycles and the Seasons I harmonize my physical and spiritual health and my understanding of the spiritual side to everything grows stronger day by day.

Through my relationship with Mother Earth, I am also aware and reminded of how everything is linked to everything else. So working on my own development, means I also contribute to the development of all things. Hence when I behave badly towards myself, that means I am also behaving badly towards everything else.

As a witch, I work a lot with energy, with healing, fortune telling and magic. But none of this is of any use unless I am constantly working on my personal growth and learn from my life lessons and clear my blockages. Magic, as I have found it, works best when I myself is functioning on my best. There is little power in chants and rituals on their own. I am the source and the director of my magical power, not the words or ritual alone, but together. If I then want to create something with magic, I must begin with myself.

As an eclectic witch, I have many methods and the ability to change things that don't work in my life. I'm not helpless, and I am never a victim. I am ever aware of my own responsibility for creating my life and what that means.

The world we live in everyday is just a small part of the enormous reality that is out there. The more I learn the more there is to learn, a paradox.

For me, God is a duality, which houses both the male and female, in balance and in a harmonious blend. From their union was created everything. So I consider both the God and Goddess and honor them by living as much as I can in harmony with creation, and by sharing the good I have in life. I still don't consider myself a religious person, but a spritual one. I don't worship any specific gods or goddesses but live alongside the divine, since I see them in everything, including me and you.

Knowledge, love and tolerance are extremely important to me. I judge no one and see no obstacle in the fact that there are so many different religions. For me, every religion carries a fragment of ultimate truth and I think (hope) one day that these fragments will come to be assembled into a whole.

You can find more of Anna Trollvind at www.trollvind.com. 

Cast Out!

It's official. I have been Facebook-disowned by my husband's family.

What brought this about? Well, I suppose it started during the presidential election, when I raised a stink about the barrage of racist emails and texts and Facebook posts from those loved ones who seemed to have forgotten that a) I actively work NOT to judge people by outer appearance, i.e. skin color, and b) I have a niece who is biracial - the same mix as our president, to be precise. It hurt, you know? That they would be so thoughtless of MY family? Still, I mostly let it go in the name of family peace and love.

Over the last few months, there's been an overload of crapola posted and sent about health care reform, about how the godless Obama is working to pave the way for Satan to walk the earth, about how health care is not a basic human right, about how "we" don't want to pay for "them." Again, I eye-rolled and chalked it up to ignorance and being misinformed, and again, moved on in the name of family peace and love.

Perhaps I was PMSing, or maybe it's the fact that I've weaned myself off of Prozac so that I can FEEL again, but a few days ago, I finally got irritated with all of the stupid shit I was reading about health care reform on my sister-in-law's (husband's sister's) page - comments made by her friends, not her - and I made the mistake of commenting about backing slowly away from the ignorance... and commented about Jesus and how he probably didn't have a pre-existing condition clause. Well... judging by the response I got, you'd think that I'd just ass-raped a goat and set it on fire. Actually, that probably would've gone over better.

After a few harsh exchanges with my brother-in-law's (husband's brother's) wife and my mother-in-law, which culminated with me telling them all to go fuck themselves (on Facebook, no less *insert shameful emoticon here*), I have since been un-friended by them all, their children, and their spouses. I can only assume that this applies in real life as well.

Now, keep in mind that, over the last 25 years, despite them knowing I am NOT Christian, I have graciously tolerated prayers on my behalf to a God I don't worship and quotes from a bible I don't believe in or read, in the form of emails, cards, texts, and conversations. I actually appreciated the sentiment, thinking that these people were caring in their own way about me, and that their prayers were still good energy that sent love and healing in my direction. What a fool, huh? I didn't want to think that they just didn't give a fuck that I have my own belief system - but after recent events, I guess that's exactly what it was... what it IS.

SO... here I sit, Facebook cast out and former in-law... and I can't tell you how light and airy I feel about it all! The last wall has finally come down - I can now fully be ME without having to censor any part of who I am... and it is wonderful.

Indeed, it IS amazing what one can see by the light of a burning bridge...

Sérums de Sorcières: Malefica, Saga, and Venefica are arriving on Winter Solstice!

Oooooohhh... I am so excited to announce that Witchy Living will be debuting a new oil line, Sérums de Sorcières, on 12-21-09! These wicked oils are going to be powerful, luscious, exquisite, and beautiful to look at, to boot. I've been mulling over an oil line for quite some time - a few years actually - and the idea for this line just kinda popped into my head after my sister witch Arabi turned me on to a really nifty bottle idea that is so totally me, it's crazy. (What can I say - the girl knows me... LOL...)

At any rate, the Malefica, Saga, and Venefica Serums - Les Soeurs - will be making their appearance in Witchy Living's shoppe on Winter Solstice. Witchy Living forum members will be getting a sneak peek, of course...

Get ready to experience some amazing magickal oils!

Make that call!

Dearest family and friends, it is my Samhain wish for you that you are able to make the time to commune with your ancient ones on this hallowed night. Listen for their voices, hear their words of love and wisdom! The veil is thin, the beloved ancestors are near - in other words - the spectral phone lines are OPEN, witches! Make that call!

May you all have a very blessed and happy Samhain!

What's YOUR label?

Sounds almost like that bad ol' pickup line, doesn't it? After reading a recent thread on Witchy Living's discussion forum in which a member discusses her own internal struggle with the "traditional witch" label, my first thought was "Eh, who needs labels? Who wants the encasing limitations of being defined?"

Of course, me being me and also me being in the throes of yet another insomniac fit, I decided to do a bit of googling about labels and once again, DailyOM popped up with an excellent article. Read on...

Turn It Around
Laboring Under A Label

We live in a culture that uses labels as a means of understanding the world and the people living in it. As a result, many of us find ourselves laboring under a label that has a negative connotation. Unless we can find a way to see the good in such a label, we may feel burdened by an idea of ourselves that is not accurate. It is important to remember that almost nothing in this world is all good or all bad, and most everything is a complex mixture of gifts and challenges. In addition, different cultures revere certain qualities over others, but this does not mean that these qualities are inherently good or bad. For example, a culture that elevates outgoing behavior will label an introvert in a negative way, calling them antisocial. In truth, the ability to spend time alone is one that most great artists, mystics, and visionaries share. Owning the positive side of this label can lead us deeper into our gifted visions and fertile imaginations.

When we look into the lives of any of the great people in history, we always find that they had quirks and eccentricities that earned them less than ideal labels from the societies in which they lived. Many famous artists and musicians were considered to be isolated loners or disruptive troublemakers, or sometimes both, yet these people altered history and contributed to the world an original vision or advances in our understanding of the universe. If we can remember this as we examine our own selves and the labels people use to describe us, we find that there is a bright side to any characterization.

If you have been labeled, remember that all you have to do to see the positive side is to turn the label around. For example, you may be considered to be overly emotional, and the fact that you are perceived this way may make you feel out of control. But notice, too, the gifts of being able to feel and express your emotions, even in a world that doesn’t always encourage that. You might begin to see yourself as brave and open-hearted enough to stay alive to your feelings. You may also see that there are certain paths and professions in which this is a necessary ability. As you turn your label around, the light of your true nature shines to guide you on your way.

Now this article doesn't specifically mention self-imposed witchcraft labels, but it's excellent nonetheless and certainly the lesson can apply to ANY label, witch included! We are all going to labor under the weight of our labels whether we like it or not, as it is indeed how society categorizes its members and how we define ourselves as well. My own label probably looks something like this: disabled eclectic dark-ish overweight granny hoodoo-dabbler book-whore nurse witch. Is that me? Well, yeah it could be - but I am also so much more. While society may sticker me with a definition or three, I know too that my own self-imposed labels are subject to change, and how and when they change depends on ME.

My new outlook? Labels don't bother me in the least. Well, not too much... ;-)