Bringing up Salamanders

2012-01-18T03:15:00.001-08:00

2012-01-18T03:07:00.000-08:00

Mrs. Bradley is back... And she's got a giveaway!

2011-10-04T14:18:00.000-07:00

Most of you know that Kris is an old and dear friend of mine here in the blogsphere. I simply admire and love her and I don't mind to say I'm her minion, along with Kallan Kennedy, lol! Hmm, that's an internal joke... *grin*

She's been pretty busy this year working on her first book on witchery, soon to be launched by Weiser books (keep your eyes opened, guys, you don't want to miss it!). So she's kept her acclaimed blog in a hiatus for what I consider a very long time in order to focus on her writings. Fair enough. But enough is enough, we couldn't wait any longer to read her cool posts... And she's back! :o)

She's back just in time for one of the best times for us witches: October! Samhain, Halloween month! Time for ghosts stories, time to connect with ancestral spirits, to share creepy tales, recipes and crafts. Okay, I know that here in the Southern Hemisphere we're heading to Beltane - another favorite sabbat of mine: Lucas is a Beltane child, after all... But I always love to follow up all the fun Halloween parties that many great blogs host during this month. And everybody knows that I can't resist a good giveaway, right? ;)

I'm talking too much, let's go for what really matters: Confession of a Pagan Soccer Mom is giving away a copy of this wonderful book: Old World Witchcraft, by the great pagan author Raven Grimassi. I've been drooling for this book since I first read about it at Facebook, and now we all have a chance to win it. And the best: the giveaway is open worldwide!

So what are you waiting for? Check it out, the contest goes until October 11. I'm already in! ;)

On how fragile we are

2011-09-13T21:45:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I last blogged, and I wish I had a happier post to place here today, but I was devastated with the news on Gabby's death. For those not around it, this 5yold sweet little girl fought for months against a very aggressive brain tumor, suffered like hell, and lost her battle last Sunday. I was following up her story, in touch with them, and like so many others, tried to believe that this time something would happen and turn this sad time a happy one. Not happening. What hugely took off my balance was to see such a little kid facing what my big sister had. I just couldn't understand how strong her little body and soul were all this time, because I know well how awfully violent this kind of tumor is. Maybe it was masochistic to keep reading about her, like reliving the worst time of my life, but I just couldn't help, that's what a friend does. Again, I kinda wanted to believe it would be different this time, even though deep inside I knew how it would end.

Reading Gabby's dad's poignant post on her illness and death drained my strength and my energy, and brought that old fear we moms all have. What if it was my kid? How to endure this unbelievable, unbearable pain? I'm the kind of person who treasure every moment I have with my little witch. I was too lucky to have a son that, even after the end of my informal marriage, has never been less than awesome, and emotionally & physically healthy. He's never been a kid to throw tantrums, never been spoiled (very loved but never spoiled), always sweet, smart, funny - of course, full of energy and rarely able of standing still, thank the gods. A really good child. I just can't phantom the idea of losing him in any way. But worse, to go through what these parents have, to watch my child slowly lose his life, day after day. It's too terrifying just to allow a tiny thought about it cross my mind, so it's blocked.

When my sister was diagnosed with this aggressive brain tumor, the time between this and her death was too fast, and too slow. Too fast to see how invasive and hungry the cancer beast was, and too slow to watch her daily pain, to watch the daily little details that haunt me till today. I don't know how my mother survived that. For me, it was the worst, the most painful time I had to live, with too many memories before and after that, that are too hard to tell and to forget. She was my sister, and that time was a haunting tattoo in my soul. But with a kid? Your own blood? No way.

I deeply hope someday Gabby's parents can live with this pain without having it ruining their lives like it must be doing right now. I hope they can breathe again.

What we learn is the obvious and so easily forgotten, and that John reminded us:

"Hug your kids

Love your kids

Believe in your kids

Never take them for granted, they could be gone tomorrow or five minutes from now, never forget that. Even years after this, let gabby have taught you that, work , money, status. None of that is important family is. Go hug someone right now."

Never take anyone for granted, appreciate them, and give them the right attention and love, don't wait for tomorrow, for the next minute, do it now. Love, say it out loud to the ones you care about, express your love, your affection. Cherish the moments you have, be thankful for having your kids, your loved relatives and friends in good health. You never know. Life is too short for drama, and the small circle of love in life should be sensed at its fullest, with all your heart.

Sorry for this venting (I know I don't need to say sorry for writing what I want in my own blog, but all of you who follow this page know what I mean). It was stuck into my throat. Going right now to kiss my sleepy little witch's face.

A lovely Yule

2011-06-22T20:05:00.000-07:00

We had a very sweet Yule here, and the weather wasn't so cold as I was expecting, which is always good!

Lucas' altar got a tropical touch with the branch we took from our garden. The little tree we usually use is inside a box, inside another huge box, ito my mom's bedroom's attic , with her Christmas ornaments. So it would be too messy to take it off the place, and we decided choosing something different this year. It became a cute thing, and I guess we'll start doing it from now on:

My altar followed the same pattern, with a funny branch chosen by my little witch. I decorated it with little drawings he made to replace the ones he used on his tree. I'll laminate them for future sabbaths, so cute they got! ;)

A couple of months ago, Lucas made a fun drawing representing a Fire Monster, and asked me to make it in felt. With the many Etsy orders to create, I ended up not making it, and when I was trying to figure out what to give him as a Yule gift, this Monster came to my mind, and I put my hands to work:

I tried to be as faithful to the original as possible, and filled it with calendula and lavender. The little buddy's trunk is a bit longer than it should, but the final "art" was okay. I put it in a cloth green bag and placed it at his altar. Of course, on Yule morning, he went straight to it, and he loved his new friend!

This year, I didn't make any special dinner, but to compensate, we got lots of dried branches and leaves, and made a little fire outside, into an old metal bowl. We drew sacred symbols on a small lumber as a Yule log, and put it on the fire, along with pieces of paper with our good wishes for the arriving season:

The night was wonderful, so starry and quiet... We spent a long time watching the fire, the stars, sharing an apple while focusing on good vibes, thanking the Goddess and the God for our lives and asking for protection during the dark months ahead. We also ran around the fire, greeting the sun that would get stronger and stronger now. (I bet the neighbours were open-mouthed at the sight of us jumping up and down and making funny dances, and thinking, "what the heck...?", lol).

We talked about the importance of always honoring these sacred dates, saluting the seasons so vital for us. I silently said an extra "Thank you" to the gods for another precious moment I was sharing with my little son. I feel really blessed to be able to have these special times with him, so full of meaning. I feel so humbly happy that I succeed to create a tradition as a pagan mom, to have open, sweet talks to him and have the chance of explaining how I perceive the spiritual world, something this close to us, on our daily lives, and to listen to his own ideas and thoughts about it. Lucas walks his path so naturally, and it's such a joy watching him living it, that I feel my heart getting warm to the point of melting...

I hope you all had a lovely time celebrating your Solstice too! :)

Happy Litha & Yule!

2011-06-21T12:25:00.000-07:00

Wish you all a wonderful Summer or Winter Solstice, dependig on where you are right now! :) May the Gods bless your homes and fill them with joy and strenght for the new season arriving!

A recovering lady

2011-06-19T18:38:00.000-07:00

My mother has always being a stay-at-home mom who worked hard to raise her six kids while my dad was working. With their super-tight budget, washing machines and electric mixer were luxuries they couldn't afford to get, so all clothings were washed by her at the washboard until mid 70's, and all cakes and breads vigorously mixed in the kitchen's bowl with a wooden spoon. 40 years ago she started baking her famous honey breads right before Christmas, to help dad give us a better Christmas night with more yummy food and better Santa Claus presents. Of course, she prepared the thick, heavy mixture manually, and only in the 80's we could give her a mixer, that was a helluva of a help! But all those extra physical effort had a price to pay (it's a surprise it took so long, in fact!), and this January she started feeling her arm aching when lifting it, and her problem began, as a tendon in her shoulder became worn to the point of needing replacement. To make a long story short, after dozens phisioteraphy sessions that lef to nowhere, her doctor finally decided to make the surgery last week, and a big anchor-shaped pin was placed.

Now she needs to be patient to go through the long recovery phase without-moving-that-arm in trhe process. Not an easy task for a woman used to be totally independent. and loving to do everything to everybody. It's the second time, recently, she needs to stay "quiet" (or as quite as possible for her restless soul) in bed - the first time last year, when she needed to go under surgery to fix her foot. So it's all a matter on working on her acceptance that sometimes, the world has to go on without her help, even knowing it will not work properly!

For me, it's again a wonderful chance to pay back to all her amazing love and good care for me and my little witch since we arrived almost two years ago. While she hates to be stuck in bed, thinking she's making me work too hard (as if I have never taken care of a house... Moms, lol!), I know she loves feeling the explicit love we are all throwing on our silly/goofy way, hugging and kissing her, making jokes all the time (specially about the anchor-shaped pin, and how we could throw her in the sea to keep a boat steady if we decided going to fishing someday) to make her laugh and forget that she's not in total control of her life for a while. And I just love being able to really cooking again, ahh... :)

Obviously, Lucas is adoring to be her guardian angel, reporting me every move she makes! ;) He's like a watch dog, and loves to be around to "see if she needs something". As all kids, everything ends up being a fun game to play!

He even wanted to create a special and cute "mojo paper bag",for her, filled with rosemary and healing intentions, with an Algiz on the top, which brought my poor mom to tears - she keeps it into her pocket all the time now.:

Tomorrow she'll have the stitches removed (her scar is healing very well, thank the gods), and the doctor will say what's the next step. A day at a time, and she will survive being in my hands these months! I made a healing candle spell & ritual during the last Full Moon, to be sure things will be okay - it's never too much to kindly ask the Gods to keep a close eye during her trial. ;)

Life has been challenging for this awesome lady, specially the past years, when she suffered devastating losses, but it's amazing to see how strong and brave she is when needed. She's the example I always try to follow, and it's my pleasure to help her this time.

And she won it!

2011-06-13T18:59:00.000-07:00

I know, I know... You have already read about it a thousand times, I'm late on posting, but of course, I can't stay in silence, and it's always so good to talk about it again! ;)

My wonderful friend Kris, a.k.a. Mrs. B., won the Circle of Moms contest! Yay! What a delight, what a honor to see her getting as #1 to the end of the huge challenge that it turned out becoming, and with her, other awesome pagan pages, like The Pagan Mom Blog, The Witch Mom, Tales of a Kitchen Witch, to name a few, that ended among the 25 top blogs! It was very stressful during the voting time, watching every day the numbers going up, the good and bad comments coming up and down, while Kris was classy during all the Via Crucis (pardon the pun...) ... But it was all worthy. What was supposed to be a simple popularity contest, something fun and light, became a mission and a lesson for all parts involved (bloggers, voters and watchers).

A mission not to proselytize, but to explain - as politely as possible - to some souls that the contest was open to ALL faiths, paganism included. To explain, again, that pagans are not devil-worshippers, don't eat babies at breakfast, don't have green faces (only occasionally), and don't need to be saved, for the Goddess' sake!

A lesson to, if not to all involved, since some people will never open their minds and hearts enough to let some moonlight get in, to the point of sending cowardly threats to Mrs. B. - but a lesson to some generous souls who had the kindness and the maturity to stop, listen and to meditate on what that fuss was all about. Many pagan bloggers and some Christian bloggers in the contest left beautiful posts showing their support to Kris and aversion to the hate and venon that were being spread by other fellow Christians, which made me believe that this world is really not lost after all...

I'm proud to be part of this beautiful, powerful and supportive community that don't hesitate to speak up when it's needed!

Last day to vote!

2011-06-07T21:08:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! Today is the very last day (until 5pm) to vote at the Circle of Moms contest. You all must be more than aware about everything that's going on this. Honestly, I'm happy that this is so close to end, it became more stressful than I could ever imagine... So many ugly words being spread on both sides... But, thank the gods, there's also the good side: great blog posts have been published, specially by Christian moms, like this one. We really gave many people a huge shake in their opinions and values, this I know! ;) Of course, there will be always those who will never change their minds & attitude - and never bother to try, but at least, we had our flag proudly spread and visible, more than ever!

So let's give Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom and the other wonderful pagan bloggers our last support today!

Smeared and Smudged's Skull Appreciation Day Blog Hop

2011-06-04T20:50:00.000-07:00

Yes! Today is the Skull Appreciation Day launched by Skull a Day, and Terra, the great soul behind Smeared and Smudged, decided to give a party to celebrate it! 37 amazing blogs will be sharing their skull projects for you to enjoy and try at home, and there are super cool prizes to win, including my Spooky Skull keychain:

Skulls are one of my favorite things (and the little witch's too, he's always drawing them around, lol!). They obviously remind me about my mortality, and how fragile life is - so that we need to have fun while we can! I do honor mine and take good care of it, because I want to keep it for a long time inside of me before getting to the next level, you know? ;)

And for artists, there are so many possibilities to work with! I was introduced me to Gary Rith, this wonderful artist who creats all types of pottery and who made a whole set for the Skull lovers:

How cool is that?!

Black Dragon is one of the skull projects' participants, and her art is awesome:

This is only one of the many great projects going on, you just can't miss it! Check them out, and join the fun!

Still on being a witch and raising a little witch

2011-05-27T20:41:00.000-07:00

I know that since yesterday words have been spread like lightning on this subject - they will never be enough - but watching my son today I was thinking...

What's the best religion? Which is the right faith? Of course, there is no absolute truth about one's spiritual path - although the recent events tried to prove it wrong. For me, the best religion, the right faith, is the one you feel at home with. The faith you feel comforted, where you find, if not all the answers to this crazy world and how it works, at least some of them. The best religion is the one that makes yo put your head on your pillow at night, and feel covered by a mantle of inner peace, strenght and serenity face all the nonsense that is thrown at our faces everyday, no matter if you're Christian, Muslin, Jew, Hindu, Pagan... If it makes sense to you, it's your spiritual home, and if it's the right one for you, I'm happy for that.

I'm absolutely cozy and comfortable being pagan and I'm proud of raising my little son on my path - while teaching him about other faiths, and making sure he knows he's free to change his mind and go find another path that better suits his soul, if in the future he feels that paganism is not for him. I know that many parents choose to keep their kids on a neutral field, not wanting to influence them on their spirituality, but I think it's just natural that my son, while a kid, follows my religion. He's used to the scent of incenses and to the light of candle flames since he was in my belly. If I was Catholic, he would probably attend the Sunday mass with me. If I was a Jew, he would read the Torah with me, etc.

I never force him to celebrate sabbaths or to perform rituals/spells. He simply shows such interest and joy that it's a pleasure for me to answer his priceless, never-ending questions and to how him my point of view. He's such a precious little thing who's constantly challenging me to debate - almost like a grown-up - the many sides and possibilities of the spiritual world. He loves reading to me about deities' stories when I'm creating my Goddesses & Gods. He loves making his own potions and amulets, and performing his own rituals at his altar. He honors and respects the eldelry as they are the symbols of his ancestrals. He's taught to be graciously strong on his opinions, and to never bow down to anyone. "Question", I tell him, not to have a blind faith, and to understand that it's important to check facts before assuming.

Nature is sacred to us and he would never hurt or kill a living creature, because that's how I taught him, and he feels it's right. I try to keep my little witch's eyes open to the beauty surrounding him. To watch the lovely cloud patterns that are constantly changing in the sky, specially during these cold weather days. To enjoy watching and feeling the beautiful ancient trees along the streets and to pay attention to the little things that will make a difference in his mood when he's a grown-up man and hard days come and he'll need to feel centered somehow.

He reads about herbs, and is starting to be really interested on their magickal properties. He naturally worships the Goddess & the God, seeing them in every aspect of Nature, and in every aspect of himself.

One thing I tell him since tender ages is "Always respect others, to be respected as well." He even wrote about it in one of his school's compositions, so much I repeat it to him on a daily basis. Obviously we all know this is not so simple, but he will learn to deal with the complexities of my quote in the right time. If he truly understands and keeps it in his mind and heart for the future, I'm happy.

Never mock on anyone, never be arrogant to think your faith or your ideas are better than anyone else's, I tell him. Diversity is something to honor and respect. H's coming to an age that being different may have an extra weight on his or his little friends' shoulders, and I want to be sure he'll be prepared to stand up for what he think it's right without needing to be aggressive or mean. So far he's doing alright on his walk.

On a nutshell (a loooong nutshell, lol), this is how I how I share my spirituality with my son, and how I would really love to see him sharing his own chosen spirituality with his kids, someday. I hope to blessed enough to live to that day.

PS: Blame on my verborragy a super-late hours when I posted this. I forgot the most important! Let's keep voting for Kris and all the pagan blogs at Circle of Moms!! :)

Prejudice, ignorance and disrespect are SAD

2011-05-26T12:34:00.000-07:00

No words are enough to express my indignation on this. But I tried on her Facebook post:

Sorry, I was in a rush and ended up writting this brief post above only to let you know about this new issue against pagans... Now that I'm back home, I can talk more calmly. ;P

If you read the link I posted here, you already know what's all about. If not, I'll let you know: There is this cool contest (that should be something fun) going on for the 25 Faith Blogs by Moms, where you can vote for your fvorite faith blog everyday, once a day. You'll find several lovely blogs, from Muslim, Jewish, Christian, pagans. The problem is that one of the nominated bloggers (who is now out the contest) decided to literally attack the whole pagan community by quoting Kris Bradley blog (who is also in the contest with her awesome page, as well as two other wonderful pagan bloggers) as reference to her hate and prejudice. Narrow-minded as she obviously is, she tried to link her sad opinions to the Bible to justify her awful words. What she didn't expect was to be replied back by many pagans (and even non-pagans) who could see the unfairness that was thrown in her page.

I don't like the word "tolerance". I'd rather use the word "respect". "Tolerance" always brings to my mind the image of someone on a higher place being magnanimous enough to allow someone who, in his/her opinion, is on a lower position, to be or say something not accordingly to his/er own opinions. That's why I think that in terms to prejudice, "Respect" is a better word. And all I could see in this lady's post was a total disrespect to the pagan community, a total lack of knowledge on what paganism is about, and a total lack of humbleness on the simple and obviuos fact that there is not an absolute truth when spiritual paths are concerned.

I strongly support you to speak up for your religion, ideas, sexuality, whatever, as long as you don't do it by attacking and being aggressive and disrespectful on those who don't follow your path. This is mean, sad and immature. Ironically quoting this lady (on a more righteous way, I hope): "I will not tolerate that kind of behavior."

To fight a cough

2011-05-25T19:39:00.000-07:00

So the little witch was being annoyed by a persistent cough since he got a little cold by the end of March. I took him to the doctor and it's simply that cough which is always the last thing to go away... After taking allophatic syrups that didn't seem to work, my mom remembered an old recipe my grandmother used to give when she was coughing or with a sore throat. It took her a while to finally find the recipe among her belongins, still with my grandma's hand-writting, so sweet! It's quite simple and delicious. After two days, Lucas' cough got really better, and now it only comes in the morning, when he gets up to this "lovely" weather of ours.

So here it is, in case you guys want to try it - and it's already in my BOS, better safe than sorry...:

2 cups of sugar
3 cups of water
1 medium piece of ginger, washed and sliced
1 sliced lemon, without seeds
2 cinnamon sticks
A handful of cloves

Melt the sugar in a saucepan, placed over low heat, until it gets a golden color, add the water, the ginger, the lemon, the cinnamon and cloves. Let the mix boil up for ten minutes with the saucen pan covered. Turn off the heat, and rest it in infusion for 15 minutes. Filter and take it warm, up to 4 times a day. It can be kept in the fridge for two weeks. Adults: 1 tablespoon each time / Children: 1 dessertspoon each time.

Let me know if you tried it! ;)

Samhain 2011

2011-05-17T19:18:00.000-07:00

I know we're already turning the Wheel once more, but bear with me, lol! I just wanted to share our Samhain altars' photos, as always.

This Sabbath became particularly special to me after my dad died in 2001, and even more after my big sister Dedê died in 2008, just a few days away from this sacred day. So it's a day full of meaning and when I miss them most... I always place their photos on my altar, and also my grandparents', a loved couple I also miss... Thank the gods I have beautiful, fun memories about them all:

Lucas' altar is where we make our little ritual, where we thanked the Gods for another new year to live, and where we wrote and burned little notes on everything we wanted to get rid the upcoming months in his cauldron, with rosemary and mugwort (that's one of the parts Lucas loves most, lol!). Actually I wrote the bad things, since Lucas said he's quite happy with his life rightnow and couldn't think of anything bad to write down - my sweet little witch...:

He got too close to the camera when I was taking the photo, and I made it even closer, just because I love his "Japanese" eyes:

Of course, I made the traditional apple pie everybody loves and which is made full of the best intentions for the sabbath:

Summoning it up, it was a good night, celebrated on our quiet way, into our shared bedroom, certainly blessed by the Gods.

I hope you all had a lovely Beltane at the Northern Hemisphere! :)

Pagans united!

2011-05-14T20:18:00.000-07:00

Hello, everybody! It's been a very long time I don't post (it's becoming a pattern I do not want to keep!). I had some personal issues that prevented me to be online but they - seems like at least - are solved now. What a better way to restart my blog life than asking you guys to spend some minutes reading these pages, here and here? Even if you're not pagan, this subject may call your attention, because it' all about religion rights and about how some people can distort facts.

In a nutshell: David Barton was interviewed by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show last week and used/wasted his time to, among other things, state that "“The true historic meaning of “religion” excludes paganism and witchcraft, and thus, does not compel a conclusion that McCollum has state taxpayer standing … paganism and witchcraft were never intended to receive the protections of the Religion Clauses.”

From this point you can take your own conclusions (oh, sorry for keeping the Italic font type, I can't remove it, arght)... What I know and agree with tons of other pagans is that, if a dumbass like Barton can spit his stupidities, it's fair enough to have Jason Pitzl-Waters on the same TV show to discuss this issue with him. Jason's intelligence level is obviously higher than Barton, and he doesn't distort words or facts to his favor, so it will be really interesting to watch this debate, if we're lucky to have him invited to the show.

If you, like me, feel that your word /vote can make a difference, "like" this FB page to take Jason to the Daily Show!

ABC Wednesday - L is for Laguz

2011-04-08T16:15:00.000-07:00

Once again I'm late, arght... Sometimes it's hard to catch up with life.

SO this week the letter is L and I can't wait to see what everybody else is coming up with to this one! ;)

For me, L stands for Laguz, the Water rune. Water like in the sea, with its tides, full of waves and changing moods that can be terrifying at times, always changing and recreating itself. It's the rune that shows we need to take a good look at ourselves and accept that sometimes we need to make deep changes in our personality to finally mature and live on.

For more L posts, visit the ABC page, and join the fun!

ABC Wednesday - K is for Kenaz

2011-03-31T18:52:00.000-07:00

Hello, my ABC friends! Today the letter is K and that stands for Kenaz, the rune for new lights.

Kenaz means "torch", the one that brings light to doubts and questions. Knowledge, wisdom, unveiling hidden aspects on the reader's life. A great positive rune, in general.

For more K posts, visit the ABC page, and join the fun!

Late Mabon news

2011-03-27T19:47:00.000-07:00

One thing leads to another, and when I see, time slipped through my fingers, and Mabon passed without me posting about it. It was a cool day, coinciding with my favorite aunt's 69th birthday:

We had a barbecue in her nonor, got our closest friends and my siblings at home and had lots of fun, as usual.

We burned the Geen Man mask made at Litha, celebrating the turning of the season. It went from this:

... To this:

It was more impressive than in the photo, lol!

Lucas' altar was all set for the sabbath, with our traditional paper cornucopy full of grains and coins, and an apple as a natural candle holder (just carved the middle, removing the seeds and adding a pinch of rosemary in the hle before placing the red candle in it). In the evening, we made our ritual, lighting the candle, and burning his wishes & thanks in his cauldron:

And the Autumn is here again, bringing a bit of new colors to the trees, a different atmosphere and implacable rains, night and day.

I hope you guys on the Northern Hemisphere had a lovely and yummy Ostara!

ABC Wednesday - I and J

2011-03-23T19:14:00.001-07:00

I missed last week when I got a tremendous rotavirus that kept me in bed for a couple of days. All is back to normal now.

So tonight I'll get two runes:

Ingwaz - the Earth God, Ing. It represents the inner growth, the time to move on, for all pending issues are set now, and you're free to breath again.

Jera - the good harvest. A lovely rune. Time of peace and success for everything that was so hard worked to achieve.

For more J posts, visit the ABC page, and join the fun!

Welcoming the God Blog Party's First Giveaway!

2011-03-15T12:59:00.000-07:00

My friend Willow Silverhorse just launched her awesome blog party, and is hosting its first giveaway right now. Get a chance to win Sylvia Browne's book, Afterlives of the Rich and Famous!

Love of the Goddess Giveaway

2011-03-13T21:20:00.000-07:00

Green Tara, from Love of the Goddess, is giving away my Persephone Goddess this week to celebrate the upcoming Spring! Check it out! :)

Thank you!

2011-03-13T21:10:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for the awesome, lovely words of support on my venting post. It was not my intention, but it was great to be pampered by you when I needed.
Event digested, and deleted from my inbox - both virtual and mental. :)

Venting

2011-03-12T18:13:00.000-08:00

... So I just received an anonymous email... Summoning it up, this anonymous was complaining that my blog is very "childish", and that I shouldn't be so shallow on my posts. Simply like that. o_O

So okay. Let's see if I understand. Someone - wh doesn't have the guts to show his/her face and uses the lazy anonymous ID - takes his/her precious time to email me, to say that he/she doesn't like my page. And so what?

To start with, this is my page. I can post about whatever I want. From the fart that the dog on the street uses to poison the air to my notorious boring migraines, from the sweet things my son says to his cute drawings he makes for me, I can post whatever I want to. My ruuuules... No one needs to come and visit my page, no one is under torture to stop by here and read my posts.

When I started this blog, I never had any intentions of sounding smart, intellectual, sophisticated, whatever. I am what I am, I'm simple, I'm not smarter that anyone else, I'm too clumsy to be sophisticated, and intellectual, pffft... I can't pretend to be who I am not.

I could blog about politics, since Brazil is a cradle of incredibly dirty politicians that stain our papers everyday, and it's a subject we learn to talk and discuss and argue about since almost childhood. We do have it at breakfast here. But as the blog title very obviously displays, here is all about "my days and nights as a Brazilian wiccan mom". I like to keep it simple. To come here and show my little witch's last adventures, last discoveries and challenges on our solitary path. I like to post about my witchcrafts, about the deities that are literally born everyday on my lap.

I do like to keep - except on rare occasions - these deep, "grown up" issues out of my blog garden... Although I love to read about them at my friends' pages, and to give my opinion when I feel it's worthy sharing my thoughts. Here this is my place to relax, to eventually vent - like now - and to read my beloved faithful insane readers's lovely words. Oh but don't you think that I expect to only read positive words, like a spoiled child who can't get a no as an answer, or can't stand the fact that I will not please everybody unanimously. I can bear healthy critiques. What I don't bear and I really don't deal well with is to open my email box and find a short, rude, pointless message, gods know from whom, saying that my page is not good enough for this soul. Frankly, pardon my language, but as I said on the second paragraph, instead of taking such precious time to type those miserable lines, simply fuck off my page, and get a life.

ABC Wednesday - H is for Hagalaz

2011-03-09T09:33:00.000-08:00

Another week at the ABC fun, and the letter is H.

H is for Hagalaz, the rune of radical changes in life, the forces challenging us to change what's stablished for too long. Hagalaz means "hail"/"hailstone". A rune to be taken in account - we need to be strong and not to fear the "bad weather" we sometimes get caught into in life. Patterns are sometimes needed to be broken.

For more H posts, visit the ABC page, and join the fun!

Giveaways & their priceless goodies

2011-03-08T17:59:00.000-08:00

I'm a lucky witch who is often winning great giveaways... I'll try to catch up and post here all the cool prizes I became the proud owner of lately.

To start with, this couple of delightful writting pieces. In two different giveaways, I had the chance of getting unique short stories from my friend Kristen Eaton, the fantastic writer behind the Looseleaf Handcrafted Stories. Using a tarot reading, she created the first story; and using five phrases given by me, the other one.

The stories per se are amazingly creative. Kristen is so gifted as a writer, and caught the perfect spirit in both tales taking me with her flow with grace.

And the physical booklets are a chapter apart. Absolutely gorgeous and neatly made. You can see how careful she is and how much love she puts in every bit on the making. The cover, the bounding itself, all carefully chosen with lovely details.

This is such an unique, surprising gift that would please even those who already have everything, you know?

Thank you, Kristen, I'm honored to have two of your creations at home! :)

ABC Wednesday - G is for Gebo

2011-03-01T17:35:00.000-08:00

I think it will be fun to post about each rune symbol, as there is one for almost each letter of the alphabet.

So today is Gebo. It means "gift". It's a rune to remind us that the balance is necessary. When you give something, you get something in return. If the Gebo rune is showing that this balance is already here, or if it is lacking, only knowing which are the other runes next to it to make a correct interpretation. It is also related to agreements, relationships, forgiveness...

For more ABC posts, visit the page.

The Country Witch hosts the 15 Days of Welcoming the God Blog Party!

2011-02-27T04:56:00.000-08:00

My dear friend Willow Silverhorse will host an awesome blog party at her page starting March 15th. It'll be all about welcoming the Spring and the God. In her words:

"This blog party is about welcoming Spring and the God. Remember this is the time that the God is reborn and I want to welcome him back this year and for many years to come. If you want to participate I need guest posts about anything to do with Spring (spells, memories, your garden, stories about the God, etc.) so contact me through my contact page with your contribution and I'll get a date to you. If you want to sponsor a giveaway please contact me asap so we can work out the details. If you're a sponsor I'm giving you full control of how you want the giveaway ran, basically you can boss me around and I'll gladly do what you ask ;). Let's start organizing this party guys! I think we're going to have so much fun this year!!!"

So what are you waiting for?? I'll surely have one of my Gods to be given away, and maybe one or two extra goodies... ;)

Let's party! :)

The Weekend in Black & White

2011-02-26T20:48:00.000-08:00

... Another weekly meme I was missing. Love to see how differently things can get when we see the world in Black and white sometimes!

This is the sky viewed through my window, a couple of weeks ago. A beautiful storm was coming:

For more B&W posts, visit here and join the fun. See you next week!

Priceless

2011-02-25T19:57:00.000-08:00

"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free." ~Frederick Douglass

"Many things we need can wait. The child cannot. Now is the time his bones are formed, his mind developed. To him we cannot say tomorrow, his name is today."~Gabriela Mistral

"There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all."~Jacqueline Kennedy

"To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark."~Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

"The good of a book lies in its being read. A book is made up of signs that speak of other signs, which in their turn speak of things."~Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose

Books are lighthouses erected in the great sea of time.~E.P. Whipple

ABC Wednesday - F is for Futhark

2011-02-22T17:56:00.000-08:00

Hello, everybody! Oh I missed ABC Wednesday, can't believe it's already on Round 8! Hope all is well with you guys, and I do hope this year I can make the whole round, not missing a single letter. Oh well... I have already missed the first ones, I know... But here I am, bear with me... ;)

As usual, I'll try to stick to pagan-related ABC posts here. Can't wait what everybody else came up with!

This week the letter is F, and F is about the Futhark runes, which I really love dearly.

I use the Elder Futhark runes set mainly for meditation/advice purposes. It is named after the sound of its 6 first letters (F, U, Th, A, R, K), and it's the oldest set of runic alphabet used by the Germanic people back in the 2th century - there's a controversy on this, since we can't say for sure when or by who it was originated, but it must have been since the beginning of this era.
One cute note is the commonly established origin of the word rune itself, the German word raunen, that means "to whisper". It brings the touch of magick to the alphabet.

In the beautiful Nordic mythology, the God Odin sacrificed his eye - and basically his life as he knew it - to get the ultimate wisdom, as described here.

See you all next week! ;)

The giveaway winner's choice - Nuit

2011-02-16T10:41:00.000-08:00

This weekend I created Karen Pau's Goddess, Nuit, the Egyptian Mother Goddess of the Skies.

I made her sacred bowl of water as a central embroidery, with yellow stars being poured from it along with the Moon and the Sun, and I filled Her with nutmeg, one of her sacred herbs. She's already on the way to Her new home! ;)

Deities everywhere

2011-02-12T19:16:00.000-08:00

>> Warning: long post! <<

Hello, everybody!

Thank the gods, I've been creating more babies than I can post about! ;) I have friends/costumers who are constantly challenging me to bring new deities to life. While I love recreating the "old" ones with all the care they need, it's simply a pleasure to start a new Goddess or God. I have the feeling that another piece falls in place in this huge spiritual puzzle every time a new deity is born.

Sooo... Last year I had the chance to add some new girls and boys to my collection.

A couple that was deliciously good to play with, were the Wonder Goddess and the Super God - you know who they are in fact! ;) They're the only ones I couldn't list at my Etsy shop for obvious reasons, but are already at their new homes:

Among the new Goddesses, I had Epona, with Her horse with a loosen thread mane, and two little birds on the arms, filled with rosemary. She looks cute! :)

Nike came with golden wings and a laurel wreath proclaiming the victory for those in need, filled with dried laurel leaves:

I loved adding all the four hard tasks to the sweet Psyche (Lucas was indignant with her mother-in-law, by the way, lol!), and loving butterflies, I loved embroidering Her main symbol, with a Phi in disguise on her antennas. I filled Her with jasmine:

I had my first Voodoo Goddess ordered! As a tradition that is still a mystery to me, it was wonderful to research and create Erzulie Freda (filled with red roses), what a powerful, but hard-to-deal-with deity!

Then came the Gods...

Ares, full of anger, craving for blood, and filled with a pinch of black pepper:

Apollo... This was another sweet one to create. Music and art are some of my favorites:

Zeus, with his lightning and filled with sage, was hard to say goodbye, my little witch loved Him (I'll need to make him one soon):

The adorable Eros with His Psyche landing on his arm, filled with red roses and drieed apple:

On Poor Hephaestus (I always felt so sorry for his sad fate!) I put a little piece of real chain over his forge, and a pinch of calendula in the filling:

So far, that's what I have new at my Etsy. Hoping to create a new whole set of deities with all the suggestions you all gave me at the last giveaway! ;)
Oh and I'm finishing Nut, the giveaway winner's choice! By tomorrow afternoon I might have Her posted, She's getting sweet...

Thank you all who had the patience of scrolling down all this long post, and wishing you a great week!

Putting things in the right perspective

2011-02-09T17:59:00.000-08:00

Those who know me here, know that I'm an optmistic witch. Almost a Pollyana. I tend to see the light even in the darkest tunnel (much for the despair of some, lol), and I seldom let grey thoughts to invade my mind. But sometimes I doubt myself. I don't feel like I will be able to change my life in the direction I want. I don't think I'll ever move from where I am now. I doubt my ability to create my own path, I doubt my capacity of renewing myself. Sometimes a black veil covers my eyes. Oh well, I'm human. But I fight this feeling hard and don't let it get the best of me. I light a candle, I invoke the Goddess, I call the God, I ask for strenght. I breath. I stop and look at my little witch, that smile always on his face, the faith he has on me... he trusts me, he thinks I'm wise and strong and I can do anything. Seems like since he was born he feels this way about his mom. So I take a deep breath, take off the veil from my face, and I can live another day as it must. I feel okay again. ;)

... And the Winner is...

2011-02-07T04:08:00.000-08:00

Congrats to the lucky winner (of course you will all have to watch the video to know if you were the lucky one, lol!)! I'll create your deity still this week, keeping you posted!

Thanks everybody who joined the fun! And also thank you for all the great ideas you guys gave me, I have some awesome deities to work on! ;)

Soon we'll have another giveaway, stay tuned!

Little witch's dream...

2011-02-05T14:18:00.001-08:00

We have this old habit at home of waking up in the morning and, during breakfast, talking about the dreams we had the previous night. Lucas is constantly amazing me with the descriptions of his dreams, for the colorful sites, the funny childish stories, and many times, the deep symbolism they have.

Today we talked a lot about death, ghosts, the ones he had already seen at home (a talk that crossed the day!). He told me and made a couple of drawings about his last one... I'd love some insights here... :)

So we were at a lake in a long wooden boat with two telescopes onboard. A black regular one, and a yellow magical telescope that showed everything that couldn't be seen at unaided eye. With it, Lucas watched a island, and to get there, we had to cross a tunnel that could only be seen with the magic device.

In front of the island, there was a big floating house with 7 floors:

Once inside, he met an old lady with white hair in one of the rooms, sitting by a desk full of pieces of paper and a can of pencils. She told him that her husband had died and was haunting the house's visitors for years.

... So the ghost (an old black man, very strong with defined muscles) came and started trying to haunt him too, but he failed, since my little witch wasn’t afraid of him, just wanting to help. They went to one of the rooms, where they had a talk about the reasons why the old man was being so bad (he can’t remember exactly this part! gah!). After the talk, the ghost thanked him and said he didn’t need to haunt anybody else again. He would live in the house but in peace.

After that, we jumped into the boat and came back home. End of the dream.

Sometimes I wonder...

Of connecting and working

2011-02-04T13:45:00.001-08:00

One wonderful point about working at home (let's see how long I can make it this way, though...) on my Goddesses is exactly being able to feel connected to Them all the time on a very special way.

When I start a new deity, or when I'm recreating one for a customer, there's something that changes inside of me. I don't work on any specific room of the house. It can be my bunkbed, the family room's sofa, by the kitchen's table, outside, chatting with my son... What matters is the respectful way I deal with it. As if the deities would endlessly start being reborn at every stitch, at every change of thread color, at every pinch of herb I add to their filling. Slowly stretching, opening their eyes under my touch.

It really makes me feel good to organize what I need, and start making the symbols that will be embroidered, to comfortably sit and keep the flow of the needle, stitch after stitch, until a Goddess or a God is ready. It's a bit of a inner trance, if you know what I mean, but that doesn't disturb me to what's happening aroung. As (thank the gods, knock on wood) I'm constantly getting new orders, it's an endless connection that pleases and feeds my spiritual path on a special way, that matches everything else I do as a Wiccan.

2011's First Giveaway!

2011-01-31T08:21:00.000-08:00

>>GIVEAWAY CLOSED<<

Wow! 2011 is flying already! I've been super busy lately recreating lost Yule orders (grr.. don't even want to remember this drama of mine, sigh... Thank the gods, it's over!), and making January orders. People didn't stop purchasing despite all the postal service madness last December, which made me very happy and relieved!

Anywhoo... I was here wondering what I could give at this first giveaway of the year. And I thought, let's make it different! So to enter the new giveaway:

*(mandatory entry): Be or become a follower of my blog, AND LEAVE A COMMENT TELLING WHICH GODDESS OR GOD YOU'D LIKE ME TO CREATE THAT IT'S NOT LISTED YET AT MY SHOP. It can't be one I already created. Challenge me with a new deity! ;)

For more chances to win (leave a separate comment for each entry, please!):

* Heart my Carioca Witch Etsy shop (1 entry);

* Blog about this giveaway, leaving the respective URL in the comment (2 entries);

* Twitter about it (1 entry per day - leave me a comment per Twitter with the respective URL, please, so I can keep track of them).

I'm thrilled to see what you guys will come up with! ;)

As usual, my little witch will pick up the winner from my witch hat, next Monday, February 7th. Good luck everybody!

Creating sweet memories

2011-01-22T14:25:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, I live at my mom's, with my little witch, and with my big brother Evaldo. We sometimes have differences, specially concerning my spiritual path, which he simply can't agree, but this was already talked and solved.

He's an awesome brother, who will stop everything he's doing to help. He was the one who took care of my father along with mom when he was ill, before dying of cancer. He was the one who was with my big sister when she died at hospital. He's this kind of guy, always there for you, no matter what. He will foget differences, small silly things that happen between siblings, and his hand is the one you can always hold when in need.

And the sweetest thing is that he loves Lucas like the son he never had. He's always playing with him, teaching him about photography techniques, telling funny jokes and making my little witch laugh everyday. After shower, Lucas always knocks at his door wearing his bathrobe, just to listen to him saying out loud, "Pope!! Forgive my sins!", kissing his hand, making him laugh so hard he almost cry - a family joke that may sound weird for some, but it's totally funny for us.

So last Monday night, when we were already sleeping, Evaldo silently created and printed a treasure map written, "Map for Baron Von Shülts' coins" and below, "House 58 at Mosela Street", with a "X" where the tresure was. He burned the map's rims to make it look old, folded and hid it into a slot into the main doorjam, and buried outside a paper bag full of old coins (although without value, some are from the 19th century, from severa countries and really beautiful) that he found among my late father's belongings,

On Tuesday morning, he asked Lucas to help him vacumming the house, starting at... the main door! You can imagine the rest... I took several photos of his discovery, and they can't express all his surprise and delight at finding something so absolutely cool and special! We made our part, pretending not knowing anything about it, and Evaldo helped him to take the eleven steps required to find the right spot to dig his treasure out. It was so so fun and so sweet to watch how genuinely happy Lucas was, how lucky he though he was!

One special touch was that some French and Italian coins display pagan gods and goddesses, and he identified them by himself: Hermes, Athena with Nike, Poseidon... He really learned well about deities! ;)

He is very proud of owning a "tresure of his own", with his old coins now safely kept into a wooden box, that, according to him, will be sent to a museum when he gets old.

Things like this simply make me feel good. I know that when my little witch grows up, he'll remember this day with love and joy. My brother is a pigheaded sometimes, but he knows how to be lovely too...

Little witch's protection potion

2011-01-20T07:46:00.000-08:00

Lucas is always amazing me with his initiatives, specially when concerning his pagan path. Yesterday, out of nothing, he decided to create his first protection potion all by himself. He took a handful of dandelions from our garden, detached the leaves from the roots (discarding the rest) and let them dry for one hour under the sun. Then he chopped everything to tiny bits using scissors - under my supervision, of course - and put them in my mortar with a good pinch of rosemary, smashing them well (mental note: getting him his own mortar & pestle, lol).

After that, he filled 1/4 of a plastic bottle with filtered water (he said rain water can be used as well), and added the herbs, vigorously shaking the bottle until getting lots of foam, the sign that it was ready to rest for one night during Full Moon (he was very enphatic on this).

This morning he filtered the potion, discarding the dandelion leaves and roots and the rosemary, and put the liquid into a plastic vessel with lid for storage (as you can see in the first photo). You can't believe how good it smells! It's to be used to splash outside around the house to protect it from negative vibes. It can also be used in protection rituals indoors, pouring some drops in the cauldron.

He wrote this "recipe" in his diary (yes, he also decided to keep a diary now!), which means that maybe it will be his first BOS, even without noticing. Let's see what he makes next!

If you have kids, do encourage them to create their own witcheries, even if the ingredients don't seem to fit, you'll be surprised how well the little ones' intuition works ! ;)

A new pagan shop!

2011-01-14T12:39:00.000-08:00

You all know how I love to surf and find cool pagan shops to drool at their items and get some goodies. My dear friend Kallan just intoduced me to this really cool shop, Pagan Stuff Cheap, directly from Eye of Nuit. From altar tools to pagan books and decorative items, there's a long list of great stuff available at very reasonable prices!

I personally loved this BOS, and this one, and this cute box... But there's so much to heart!

I know this is on my list of favorite pagan shops now, and I highly reccomend it! ;)

Drawing with the gods

2011-01-12T17:55:00.000-08:00

If there's something my little witch loves, like most kids, is to draw. He's constantly creating (he's addicted to the pens and pencils my gorgeous friend Eva sent him, lol) from his favorites detailed monsters (with ability & power level charts) and skulls to castles, drgons, cars, and deities, many deities.

Right now he's working on a temple with Goddesses statues. I mentioned to him it's all black & white, but he explained that they're marble statues, so of course, there's no color... Okay... So far there are Artemis, Gaia, Nike and Aphrodite. I just love to see how comfortable he is with his spiritual path, and how natural it is for him to talk about it and to be connected to the gods in such a simple yet powerful way.

My current favorite is this "Goddess Tree" with a bed on its branches covered by a quilt with a Goddess embroidery, under a starry night and full moon - lunar craters and all. He says it can be used by the Goddess herself to sleep, go figure. I love it:

Some time ago he made two favorites of mine: Hestia and Cernunnos. These are colorful and cute, and obviously already on my altar's wall:

I end up with a folder full of his "creations", it's sweet to follow how he goes developing his "style" and how his vision deepens and gets more mature on gods and the thin veil between the worlds. Not to mention the fun of listening to his descriptions, just cute. I highly recommend to those with kids to encourage these moments, being around just to follow the artists's thoughts, lol! :)

A very Happy time!

2011-01-09T17:36:00.000-08:00

**Warning: This is one of those loong posts, you know? ;) **

And soooo, you guys who know me over one year knows that I broke up with my ex, and that last year was the first time Lucas spent his January vacations with his dad, seven hours away from me. And you guys remember well how bad it was for me, who has never been away from my son for a single day. Oh well, lessons learned.

To shorten a very long story, Lucas decided by himself that he wouldn't go this vacations. He couldn't explain why, just didn't want to go, and decided spending January at home. Maybe the fact that in the first vacations, once he was put in a cab late night to meet his dad in the neighbour town, 25 minutes away from where he was had something to do with it, although apparently, it didn't leave any "traumas" in his mind and heart. I talked to him about how important it was for his dad and family to have him during this period of time, that they love and miss him, but he was firm in his decision, and I thought it would be wiser not to force him, I wouldn't force him to anyway. I have to confess that I got happy to have him at home, with mixed feelings of relieve and guilty, as if I haven't done enough to make him change his mind. At the same time, I know I did what I could as naturally as possible, and that he's getting old enough to start making his own decisions, feeling safe that his mom is always supporting him when he needs it.

Anywho... We spent New Year Eve in Araruama, at my cousin's beach house, where I've been last year. It was Lucas' first time there, and he simply adored the place. The famous, huge lagoon is breath-taking for adults, imagine for a little boy!

We walked along it several times, and he "fished" many shells on the way (still in the plastic bag to be washed and place in his altar).

He had a blast in the house pool, all proud that I didn't need to hold his hand, just watching by the edge. It was like a little fish, it was hard to convince him to get out of it, to eat or sleep, lol!

.. And of course I had fun too! ;)

The Reveillon night was beautiful, the lagoon beach was crowded but comfortable to be at, not that huge mass like Copacabana's. Lucas enjoyed his first fires!

Here, he's in front of candles lit in the sand for Yemanja, something very traditional at this special night:

Like many others, this man threw flowers on the lagoon for Yemanja, and prayed for a long time after each flower was ont the water... I wonder what he wished, and hope he gets it, if "harm none"...:

At midnight, I wet my fingers on the lagoon, and made a pentagram on his forehead and on mine, asking for protectrion along the new year, and thanking the old one that was leaving us. Then I hugged and kissed my little witch:

As well as grandma, ;)

Lucas made good friends in Araruama, like Nina:

And Julieta:

And the best for him: he went, also for the first time, to an amusement park! One of those itinerant parks was in town, and obviously, I had to take the chance! He had so much fun! Ghost train, bumping cars, rockets, trampolines... He had a bit of everyhting, and it was such a delight to watch him laughing and having so much fun. It's wonderful to see that light in his eyes and around him with such something so simple and irresistible. It was like seeing myself in him when I was his age.

Summoning it up, it was perfect! We spent some wonderful days with awesome friends, and got back home ready for 2011. I hope you all have a great new year as well, with batteries recharged for the new challenges that always come. I have a little list of resolutions that I intend to take to term this year... But this is for another post! ;)

Shame on this shop

2011-01-04T13:48:00.000-08:00

Petitions by Change.org|Start a Petition »

I just can't understand how some people' minds work. Mrs. B. some time ago posted about this Etsy shop named You Stupid Bitch, and yesterday my friend Micael also posted about it, that sells awful, disgusting cards "celebrating" rape victims, AIDs victims, Down Syndrome kids' parents, and other hard-to-deal-with situations. The worse is that some people buy them! It's impossible to swallow this kind of absurdly cold-hearted people who wants to get money no matter what.
I just signed a petition to make Etsy to remove this shop from their site. It's the least I could do.

Updating and Wishing everybody a wonderful 2011

2010-12-29T16:05:00.000-08:00

*above is my gorgeous sister and I surrounding my silly brother on Xmas night. He just loves to be among ladies, the pirate...

Soooo... We had a wonderful Litha, let's start this way. We had our traditional picnic breakfast outside, with juices, fruits, yogurt, everything according to my little witch's request. ;)

Then he made, for the second year (it's the very beginning of a new tradition for us), a Green Man mask, to be burned on Mabon. We used a pasteboard to the base, and taped ivy leaves for the "hair", fern leaves for the "beard", and scheflera and fern leaves for the "nose", plus a huge green crayon smile. Lucas used the mask for a long time, and greeted anyone at the door wearing it, so funny!

Three days later was Christmas. It's a family tradition for me, when the whole pack is together, eating and drinking a lot, and spreading gifts around. It has always meant a lovely holiday for me, detached from the Catholic side, and after Lucas was born, it became even more special. He loves to get the Tree ready for the holiday... Since he got old enough to hold the ornaments without breaking them or getting hurt, it's his special task:

It's always wonderful and fun to watch his sweet and enthusiastic reaction when finding out with his little cousins that Santa Claus, once again, didn't fail, and left a big pile of gifts for everybody under the Tree.

I took a photo of the feast, before everything was placed on the table. Each member brings something to eat, it's beyond words, lol! My share is always the dessert: my special peach trifle. I could eat that forever...

Lucas wrote a letter to Santa, asking for a toy guitar... So, among other things, he got his gift, and simply adored it! A Mini toy Fender Stratocaster, with pre-recorded rock riffs that now is played all the time here, alas... ;)

... But I think that what he secretly loved most (well... not so secretly... lol) was the mini pool my awesome Auntie Sandra gave him. Perfect for the really warm days to come! It's hard to get him out of it! We're having some massive rains lately though, so for a while, he'll have to watch it from inside the house..

On a nutshell, the holidays were wonderful. Full of love, laughter, and great vibes. And to crown my last days of 2010, Lucas is traveling with me tomorrow morning to spend the New Year's Eve at our cousin's beach house (where I went to last year, remember?)! He decided he wanted to go to his dad's only after that, and I got more than happy for it! :) He'll stay away from me for a shorter time, compared to last year, which is really really a blessing for me. When January 5th comes, you all know I'll activate my "virtual Phone Tree" to ask you to help me creating a positive protection circle around my little witch, right? As well as a "hang in there" circle for me! ;P

I wish all my friends, from the bottom of my heart, a beautiful New Year's night, with love, light and warm vibes (and I do hope you guys are sae with all these crazy snow blizzards out there! Keep me posted!), and a 2011 when all your true dreams come true. I'll be offline from tomorrow until I return on January 2nd. Until then, take good care, and enjoy your time with family and friends! :)

Happy Yule and Litha!!

2010-12-20T15:11:00.000-08:00

I wish all my friends at the Northern Hemisphere a beautiful Yule, filled with love and positive vibes, increased by the awesome Full Moon eclipse!

For my friens in the Southern Hemisphere like me, I wish you a great Litha! May the Sun brings the strenght and warmth we all need!

We'll celebrate it with our traditional breakfast picnic outside, with my little witch's menu: orange juice, carrot & beet jiuce, cheese muffins, bread with butter, apples and yogurt! Afterwards he'll make a new Green Man mask, like last year, to be burned in Mabon. To crown the day, we'll spend the afternoon at his best friend's. A great way to celebrate the solstice. :)

Blessed be!

Seems like a century away!

2010-12-16T17:46:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been aegs since I last posted! I feel so bad for not visiting everybody as I should and wanted to, I'm sorry, guys! :P I did kept in touch with many of you at Facebook (which is a life-saver when time is short to write long posts, but we want to send smoke signs), but nothing compares to the detailed posts we can share here at our blog homes! ;)

I've been really really busy lately (still am, lol!) with Yule orders, thank the gods, this holiday was awesome for my shop! While last year I had only a couple of orders, this time I had a huge bunch of them. So I was happily sewing my fingers off, as Kris used to say. I created a bunch of new goddesses and gods, soon to be posted here.

In the meantime, Lucas moved to the next grade in school (grade 3 now, can't believe it...), and I'm proud that he got A+ in all subjects! ;) He won a medal at the soccer class along eith his little friends, and now is enjoying lazy days of vacation st home (until he goes to his dad after Christmas to spend January with him... But that's for another post, I don't want to think about it now).

My nephew William, my late sister's son, who lived here at mom's for two year since her death, went to live with his dad yesterday, in another state, to start college next year. We're all sad missing him, but we know this was a necessary step in his life, and he'll be okay. Good that there's internet to keep in touch!

Christmas is almost here, and we do celebrate it as a family holiday/tradition. All my siblings come to mom's, each bringing something home-made for the feast (traditionally we have turkey wih bittersweet sauce, French toast, manioc flour toasted in butter, salpicao, rice, and other yummies...), and we exchange gifts. The young kids, who still believe in Santa (my litle witch included), can hardly wait for it! Thanks to my shop, I could buy gifts for everybody this year, it's a great feeling! :)

And ('bout time!) Summer is finally coming here! We're facing weird stormy weather on a daily basis, always in the afternoons. The days start with a bright sun shining, warm weather. Then, when it's around 5pm, seems like the skies are falling over our heads (I have to remember Asterix then, lol), thunders and lightnings crossing above. Today was the first day in weeks that this didn't happen!

We'll celebrate Litha as usual, with a home breakfast picnic to salute the sunny day. I love the warmer months here in Petropolis, never too hot to bear, with a cool breeze in the evenings.

Also, I won some awesome prizes at Mrs. B.'s Halloween party (*taking mental note to post about them asap*)!

Summoning up, it was a good, busy time off! I hope you all firgive my absence from everybody's blogs, and I do hope everything went well in the meantime. I'll be pretty busy now catching up!

Kisses and love from us! <|;)

PS: Above is my little witch one of these days, ready to school, with hair gel, cute! ;)

Be right back

2010-11-19T02:48:00.000-08:00

Hello, everybody!

I'm sorry for my lack of posts here and for not visiting your blogs these days! I've been pretty busy working on Yule orders, so my focus is on my babies to keep them ready before the holidays.

I'll be back soon to catch up! ;) Hope you all are having good days.
Kisses from us.

Scrying Mirror's Making Of

2010-11-10T06:13:00.000-08:00

Some friends were curious on how Maebius created the gorgeous scrying mirror he sent me. I'll use his own words:

"First, I took a simple wooden picture frame and decorated it. In the most recent New Moon I had small riutal fire made from apple and elder branches which had fallen from our trees in the yard recently.
Also, smudged the glass and frame with mugwort and cedar leaves. Charged the scrying frame with love and intent to be a sacred tool. Then I took the ashes, powdered them in a stone mortar & pestle, and mixed some more dried mugwort leaves in. This got smeared on the back of the glass with a little salt-water and allowed to dry."

As he said, a bit of extra work compared to simply painting it, but it surely brought a special feeling to it, making the mirror even more sacred and powerful for me!

New Moon thoughts

2010-11-08T16:17:00.000-08:00

I love the New Moon. It's a time that always meant cleansing, getting rid of the old so the new can come into our lives, and making protection rituals to be sure the new will come with the best vibes possible without any bad influence. As I always did my cleansing in the whole house for years, now that I'm living at my mom's, I don't feel comfortable of doing anything like that anymore, no matter how supportive my sweet mother is. So I do whatever I want into our bedroom, in a smaller scale, which is not the same, of course. But we need to adapt ourselves to the current situations and get the best out of it, I know.
This month it was not different, and it was okay.

As it is also a great time for divination, I placed the gorgeous scrying mirror that my super-cool friend Nate, a.k.a. Maebius made for me some months ago. It's my first scrying mirror, and I'm so in love with it! It's so beautifully made with such care, empowered with the proper symbols and vibes and even smudged as it should. Maebius rocks (btw, you need to watch the video he made on his absurdly cute little son drawing a comic strip, unmissable!)! ;)

I'm training/disciplining myself not to freak out in front of this mirror. It's easy for me to get some "doors" or "windows" opened and get images and signs forming, but I simply can't control myself to keep the focus and not to be afraid of what I'll see. So far this was the second time I used the mirror, and for the second time, I could sense and actually start to see something, but the heck I could let it fully come, I just blocked it and called it a night both times. It's a big issue that I know I need to work on. As I always say, nothing happens by chance, so when Nate said he would send me the scrying mirror, I knew it wasn't a coincidence. It was like the gods decided it was time for me to stop being this chicken, and said, "okay, deal with it.". Okay, I will... In due time, I will. Just getting used to it and stocking my courage.

He also send us the 12 beautiful samples of sand you see by the mirror's side, from several places in the U.S. Lucas adored using Google Earth to see where each one were from (just between us, I love that application and the dizzy fall from the sky to the spot we want to visit!). Lucas was sweet enough and allowed me to keep them in a little glass jar at my altar, layered in the numbered order they came. So now they're proudly displayed with the magick stone from Marie Segal on the top of it. I used to have a glass bowl with stones and peebles from around the world brought by co-workers when I worked at GE, but they're all at my ex - I hope I get them back asap, so these samples are very special to me, specially coming from a really sweet friend like Maebius. It's starting over a new collection.

Oh, and I stumbled upon this cute ritual at Patti Wigington's page, that I plan to make next New Moon with my little witch, it's so simple and lovely to perform with kids! I hope the night is clear and not rainy then. Hope you guys had a prefect New Moon night as well!

Working on dandelions

2010-11-06T04:09:00.000-07:00

Remember that we harvested some dandelions and put them to dry a couple of weeks ago? They dried very well in to my wardrobe and last night we prepared them for Moon Shine's tincture.

Well, the leaves were dry but I put them for 5 minutes into the hot oven just to make them get crumbly and easier to deal with - I don't think it was a bad thing, ;P
My little witch loved taking the bigger leaves to put into the glass jar:

I filled half the jar with Brazilian cachaça (a sugar-cane beverage), since we didn't have whisky or vodka at home as suggested by Moon Shine, but according to him, it's a good substitute:

Then I completed filling it with water, put the lid and placed it under my wardrobe - the darkest place in my room, lol! It will stay there for one month until is completely ready for use. The rest of the leaves were enthusiastically reduced to powder by Lucas and stored in a tin can for future witchy use, along with the dried roots.

Of course my little witch wanted to make a divination potion, using hot water in his cauldron and a generous pinch of the dried leaves, and he kept watching the images formed in the brew. His little mind went wild and he said he could see, in this sequence: a green man, an old man holding a sickle, a seahorse and a man holding a snake in each hand, lol! Don't ask me about it, I decided agreeing and calling it anight then! ;)

The Weekend in Black and White

2010-11-05T16:15:00.003-07:00

Ah.. I was missing this fun! October was really a crazy month. ALthough here we're celebrating Beltane, I get so much into Halloween with my friend Kris' online party, that I have only eyes for it, lol!

Last weekend Lucas took a photo of my brother testing my brother-in-law's new camera, I loved how it turned out!

For more monochrome photos, visit the meme's main page, hosted by Dragonstar, and join the fun.

"Gimme fuel, gimme fire..."

2010-11-05T12:01:00.000-07:00

OH Books! I love Internet and I know how wonderful this media is to bring peope closer, and the zillion informations we can get here, but if there's something I can't live without is to read a real book, to smell it, feel the pages under my fingers... It's almost erotic, lol!

So yesterday arrived the two books I ordered, at the same time, my kind of heaven!!
How good it is to look at my bedside and see them sweetly waiting for me to read, it's so comforting... I started The Red-Haired Girl from the Bog last night and already got hooked! Patricia Monaghan really knows how to keep the reader's attention, I only stopped because it was too late, but tonight I think I'll watch the dawn while reading...

Have you guys been reading something these days? I always love to know about it!

ABC Wednesday - O for Osiris & P for Persephone

2010-11-02T17:35:00.000-07:00

Oh well, I didn't make it last week, so here are my posts: a late O post, and this week's P!

O is for Osiris, the Egyptian God of the Underworld and vegetations, son of the goddess of the skies, Nut, and the god of the earth, Geb. He was seduced by his sister-in-law Nephthys, who pretended to be his wife/sister Isis, getting pregnant and giving birth to Anubis. His brother Seth )Nephthys' husband), blind with jealous, killed him and spread the pieces of his body on the river Nile. Isis managed to get all the pieces and bring him back to life (the flooding of the Nile represents what happened). Eventually Osiris died again and became the God of the Underworld, judging the departed souls.

P is for Persephone, one dear Greek Goddess. Daughter of Demeter and Zeus, she was the Spring Goddess. She was kidnapped by the God of the Underworld Hades (not Osiris, lol!) and became his Queen. Demeter desperately searched for her, finally finding her in the dark realms of Hades, and managed to make a deal with him. As Persephone ate a magic pomegranade offered by the Underworld God, she couldn't just leave for good. So she would stay six months with him in his kingdom, and six months with her mother up in her lands. That's why we have the dark months of Fall and Winter... ;)

For more P posts, visit the ABC page, created by Denise Nesbitt, and join the fun!

Samhain giveaway's Winner!

2010-11-01T06:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay on posting this! Yesterday was a weird day, with migraines and family at home, so only this morning we made it.

I had fun with this video, because we made such a mess in the end, with Lucas having troubles to grab and hold the piece of paper with his too big gloves, then dropping the paper right after announcing the name and not finding it... You have to watch to know what I mean, lol! And I'm sorry that you guys have to watch it sideways, I just didn't know how to make it right! ;P

Congrats to the sweet winner, I'll ship your Wheel this week!

Samhain Giveaway from Carioca Witch on Vimeo.

Blessed Samhain and Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T09:03:00.000-07:00

Wish you all a perfect time with fun and bright blessings starting on this new witchy year!

And for my friends on the Southern Hemisphere with me, a blessed Beltane!

The Wheel turns one more time, it's a pleasure to watch it turning with all of you!

Day 31 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-31T08:24:00.000-07:00

Awww... And this is the last day of super-fun at Mrs. B.'s blog! I enjoyed every day of it, and I want to thank her for spending her time to bring all these wonderful artists together to so generously donate their witchycrafts for us greedy witches, lol!
I was also happy to get to know new bloggers, learn more about this magickal sabbath, and to read awesome articles every day.

Aaaaand today Mrs. B.'s giving away an absurdly amazing basket of goodies straight from Salem, from Jaz, the soul behind Octoberfarm! Omigods, I would adore to win this!!

And Weiser Books was also so generous to donate a full set of the Weiser Field Guides!!! Ooommiiiiigods!!!! WOuld it be too bad if I made a spell to win this, lol??

And don't forget the last Hautend Blog Tour, it's spookY! ;)

Day 30 t Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-30T09:55:00.001-07:00

No..... Tomorrow Mrs. B.'s arty will be over... Snif...

But today she's giving away the cutest Witchy Towel Trio with the most adorable witchy embroideries from Rain's (obsessive) Stitchery!

And a great Haunted Blog Tour, of course! Hurry up, it's almost over! (snif)

Day 28 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-28T09:15:00.001-07:00

I don't like to remember it's almost over! sigh... SO let's party!

Today Mrs. B.'s giving away a gorgeous Vintage Witches Charm Bracelet from Laughing Vixen Lounge! I simply adore her stuff and I have the cooles Supernatural necklace (I have already told you this, but I have to repeat! lol).

Also a box of 10 sweetest photos greeting cards from Judy's Photos!

Unmissable!

Day 27 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-27T04:47:00.000-07:00

It's already Wednesday! Wow, time is flying!

Today Mrs. B. is giving away a felt rune set filled with a pinch of lavender from my Carioca Witch shop! :) And also a super cute book from Quirk Books, the Disneystrology! You just can't miss today!

Cute witcheries for a little witch

2010-10-26T18:42:00.000-07:00

Some time ago I ordered from Mrs. B.'s Etsy shop a cute voodude that Lucas saw and fell in love with.

When I opened the parcel, besides the Halloween voodude comfortably placed in his coffin, there was also a little pink voodude that I was in love with too! The cutest pinkie voodude ever, now proudly hanging on my keychain, filled with special herbs and full of great vibes. And she threw in some Halloween goodies for my little witch as well:

Needless to say Lucas adored his new friend!

Soon the voodude was introduced to the Wizard who lives on his altar:

After a good empowering ritual Lucas wanted to perform all by himself, and after sleeping with it for some nights, he decided the voodude's place was on the altar, into the stones' bowl:

He really looks all happy in his new home, doesn't he? ;)

Day 26 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party

2010-10-26T11:36:00.000-07:00

Today Mrs. B.'s giving away an absolutely wonderful Willow rune set from a sweet frind, Mother Moon, a beautiful Silver Moon Herbals Samhain Herbal Kit from Silver Moon Herbals and a super-cool winner's choice of silver pendant from Laughing Vixen Lounge (I have her Supernatural pendant, and I tell you... Her stuff is the best.)!

Take your chance, guys, it's the last week! ;)

Day 25 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-25T11:49:00.000-07:00

Oh... This is the last week! sigh...

Today Mrs. B.'s is giving away the awesome (and much wanted!) Buckland's Book of Gypsy Magic from Weiser Books, a super cute Très Petit apron from Apron Addiction, and a lovely & original designed Heart and Soul Necklace from Nitebyrd's Nest.

Plus the always creative Haunted Blog tour and Guest Blogger of the day. Check them out!

Recipes!

2010-10-24T11:13:00.000-07:00

I seldom post recipes, isn't it? Everything I make at home (when I manage to be in the kitchen before mom, that's it!) is very simple and can't be compared to my friends' fabulous meals!

But yesterday at the bbq we went, our host friend prepared an absurdly delicious white beans with saffron & coconut milk, whose recipe I had to steal and share with you guys. At first, I though I wouldn't like it because coconut milk is so sweet to have something to do with beans. My mistake! It gives a subtle exotic touch making it taste like heavens. So here it is:

Prepare 1 kg of white beans as usual, stewing it with onion and garlic after cooked (that's how we make beans here, I assume is the same for you guys!). After cooked, add a litle bottle of coconut milk (200 ml) and a table spoon of saffron to it, stirring well, cooking for more 5 minutes. Right before serving, add a tomato cut into cubes in the mix, and voilà! The best white beans ever!

For dessert, she also made Ambrosia, a yummy and simple recipe that can make you howl to the moon (like the Olympian gods must have done when eating it, lol):

Put 5 liters of milk in a big pan. Add 3 cups of sugar, always stirring until boiling. Put on low heat and let it slowly dry for more or less two hours. When the mix starts to thicken and get a light brown color, add 5 sticks of cinnamon. Pour the mix on a large bowl and take it to the fridge, until time to serve.

Enjoy! And if any of you guys try these, let me know if you liked them! ;)

Day 24 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-24T06:59:00.001-07:00

Oh... I can't believe there's only one wek left for the month to be over, and so the fun! sigh

While we can, let's party!

Today we can try to win The Big Book of Soul: The Ultimate Guide to the African American Spirit by Stephanie Rose Bird, from Weiser Books, a Wire Wrapped Amethyst Point Pendulum from Shades of Midnight, and a 3 Postcard pack - 'Suspended' Painting - with Envelopes from Jasmine Worth!

Little witch's lucky charm

2010-10-23T21:27:00.001-07:00

Lucas has soccer classes at school every Thursday after class. It's one of the funniest times of the week, with us moms and dads cheering for our little ones as if they were at a national championship, and they playing with their hearts. Lucas loves his classes! While in the begining he was a bit afraid of fighting for the ball and getting hurt, lately he developed a self-confidence that pleasantly surprised us all. He runs the whole field, fairly fights for his chances and gets involved in every situation - no, he's not a young Romario, I know his limitations, but he fully enjoy his games! It's even more fun to watch him now;

Some days ago he also decided adding an extra magickal help to his good performance, and made a cute luck charm, inspired by the Smeared and Smudged cool tutorial shared at Mrs. B.'s Haunted Tour:

This is how he thought a soccer luck charm should look. I took it with me on his last soccer class and he played very well again! He knows it was not due to the charm, but to his own effort, but of course, a little bit had to do with magick, why not? ;)

Having fun with some good friends

2010-10-23T20:32:00.000-07:00

We had a great Saturday. The day started all windy, but the sun decided to show up at least. Mom, Lucas and I went to a couple of friends' house for a Brazilian barbecue by the pool. The last time we went there was in the begining of the year, time is flying! They usually visit us more often on our own barbecues and family gatherings, so it's rare to be there. This time was wonderful!

Lucas had a blast with their grandkids playing at the pool...

The barbecue was so yummy... I don't eat red meat, but devored the sausages, spicy and at the perfect taste! To accompany, we had white beans with saffron and coconut milk (absurdly delicious), rice and salad.

For dessert, homemade ambrosia... Cloud 9!

After lunch, the kids played some more at our friends' beautiful garden, it' was really cool to sit on their veranda watching them play while chatting:

Our friends are so sweet and fun to be with. It was awesome to spend some time with them again. Until the next barbecue, here or there!! :)

... And a sweet award

2010-10-23T19:36:00.000-07:00

Talking about Mother Moon... She was so sweet to give me this lovely award. Thank you, dear, I feel humble to accept this from you, loved you thought of me among your other great friends! :)

Well, to the rules:
1. Link the award to the person to whom sent you the gift. (check)
2. Link to the blog of the person who created the award - Hazra of Advanced Booking. (check)
3. At Advanced Booking enter your name into Mr. Linky so there is a complete list of all the recipients. (check)
4. Pass the award on to at least 7 more people whom you feel are prolific bloggers. This is the hardest part for me. I always find it so hard to choose a few friends when everyone is so worthy these awards! As the award creator says I must pass it on at least 7 blogger friends... everybody from my "Blogs I love" list on the navigation bar above deserves this beautiful award. So if you feel like grabbing it, please do it!

Another awesome Halloween giveaway!

2010-10-23T19:10:00.000-07:00

One of the sweetest souls I've met whose blog I simply love, Moon Mother on top of everything is giving away an incredible basket full of adorable Halloween goodies! You just can't miss it! ;)

Day 23 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-23T14:48:00.000-07:00

Talk about being late again! lol! We had a fun busy day at a friends' house, so only now I could see what's going on at mrs. B.'s party!

She's giving away today Somnambulant Skulls, a cute mixed media piece, on a 5x7 canvas from Somnambulant, and also The Way of the Horned God, a book for boys teens by Dancing Rabbit, from O Books!

And today there are two Blog Haunted Tours and the GHuest Blogger!

Day 22 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-22T09:48:00.000-07:00

Wow, I'm late today! Errands to do, crafts to make... :)

Today Mrs. B. is giving away an awesome Hekate Art Card from Wishcraft Charms. I have two art cards from this wonderful artist, and I love them! Hecate would be a great addition to my collection... ;)

Also, a delicious Polyjuice Potion Glycerin Soap from ADK Aromatherapy (US residents only, sigh...)

And of course, the always fabulous Blog Haunted Tour and Guest Blogger to read!

DAy 21 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-21T07:08:00.000-07:00

One more day full of fun at Mrs. B.'s party! Today she's giving away the winner's choice of an awesome digital art print from the Custom Zombie, and the to-drool-at book Magic When You Need It by Judika Illes from Weiser Books!

You really don't want to miss any of these! ;)

Day 20 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-20T03:29:00.000-07:00

See the cool brand-new button?? Mrs. B. created it! Loved it! ;)

Oh-my-gods... Today Mrs B. is giving away awesome prizes (but that's what she always do!)

To begin with, The Weiser Field Guide to Cryptozoology by Deena West Budd, from the Weiser Books! Whenever she mention a witchy book is giving away I drool more than usual, lol! The cute touch is that the review (a very good one, btw) is made by her young little witch, Miss M.!

Also, an absolutely stunning Pentacle of the Goddess from Lytha Studios. I'm so sorry this one is for U.S. and Canada residents only, so gorgeous it is! Good luck my American and Canadian friends!

... Also, a Samhain Reading from Intuitive Goddess, how cool is that?!

And a gorgeous, gorgeous Tides Rising necklace from Tribal Horse Designs! Another prize I'm sorry not being eligible to win, you who can, wear it for me! :)

ABC Wednesday - N is for Nike

2010-10-20T02:57:00.000-07:00

Last night I was having dinner with my little witch, and planning which deity I'd post about today. When I asked him which one he would suggest, he said without hesitation, "Nike!". ;)

So Nike is here today. The Greek Goddess of Victory and strenght, with her wings to fly over battlefields indicating the victorious armies (I wouldn't be surprised if the warriors spent more time looking up to the skies looking for Her than fighting, lol). Daughter of the Titan Pallas and the Goddes Styx, she was taken by her mother, with her siblings, to help Zeus and the Olympians in His war against the Titans. She was chosen to be the Gods' charioteer then.

The shoes company Nike is named after this Goddess (now you know why its symbol is that stylized wing!).

Oh And the Jules Rimet Trophy had Her figure as well. The Brazilian soccer Team won this beautiful trophy in the World Cup of 1970. Years later, stupid thieves robbed and melted it.

For more N posts, visit the ABC page, created by Denise Nesbitt, and join the fun!

Day 19 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-19T04:06:00.000-07:00

One more day of fun at Mrs. B.'s party! Today the prizes are awesome as always: a beautiful set of carnelian runes from Kadiera's Cauldron, a spooky soft cloth handmade zombie hand from Daph's Dark Little Corner, and lovely Cutie Corn and Witches Cauldron Plushes from Manifested Dreams!

And of course, the always fun and interesting Blog Haunted Tour and Guest Blogger of the day! Check them out!

Witchering with mom

2010-10-18T16:34:00.000-07:00

I decided following with Lucas The Diary of a Witch's Samhain craft using dandelions. We have tons of these lovely plants growing at our "garden" - not really a garden, it's all paved in old cement but with cracks where ordinary plants grow wildly, and beds on the sides. Anyway, I thought it would be a great chance to introduce my little witch to this simple part of witchcraft that is so important to learn, that is preparing herbs to dry for potions and other stuff.

So on Saturday we picked a handful of dandelions, and Lucas happily separated the leaves from the roots. We washed everything in current water, I chopped the roots to dry under our wardrobe, and we hang the leaves into my wardrobe (the darkest, driest places I could find in the house, lol).

Now he's enjoying the process of checking the leaves every morning to see how long it will take for them to dry so we can go to the next step. Every chance is wonderful to open a new window in his witchy side, as he's so willing to help and learn. I'll post more as soon as the roots get ready for the oven (the leaves will still remain in my wordrobe for a couple of weeks at least)!

Popcorn!

2010-10-18T13:34:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago I read this awesome and (for me at least) new way of popping popcorns in microwaves at Octoberfarm. Jaz has the most exquisite recipes I've seen and some of the coolest posts, specially during her favorite month that is... October, of course! ;)

I adore popcorn no matter when: at the theater watching a good movie, at home watching a good movie, in bed reading a good book, around a kitchen table havinga good chat, so I had to share this with you guys! Just follow Jaz's instructions and you'll have the perfect "microwave popcorn" in the world. While I love preparing popcorn on the old-fashioned way in a pan, this is so fun and, as Jaz wisely points out, with no chemical that those microwave popcorns get, that it became an instant favorite. Lucas obviously adored helping me to get everything ready, and eating them! On the photo he's trying to be serious again, with no success, lol

Day 18 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-18T04:35:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's already the 18th! Time is flying!! Today Mrs. B.'s giving away some cool prizes as usul: for three winners, Natural Absinthe Herbal Salts from Grimdeva of Cauldron Craft Minis, a Witch's Mini Herbal Kit from FiveSeeds (alas, these two are only for U.S. residents, good luck my American friends!), a cute handmade Puzzle Ball from Banterings of a Basketcase, and two Halloween keychains from the humble witch who types here! ;)

Hurry up and join the fun!

Day 17 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-17T10:02:00.000-07:00

SUnday fun! Mrs. B.'s giving away 3 awesome prizes: a great $25.00 Gift Certificate to Spelled with a W shop, a gorgeous a Meditation Labyrinth Necklace from Into the Dawn Designs, and a super-original Handcrafted Tarot Story from Looseleaf Handcrafted Stories! Check them out!

A lovely Halloween Tale

2010-10-16T21:51:00.000-07:00

You have to read this adorable Halloween tale in three parts created by my sweet friend Linda. You just have to! :)

My Samhain / Beltane Giveaway!

2010-10-16T16:34:00.000-07:00

The next Sabbath is approaching! While most of you are anxiously waiting for Samhain, here we're getting ready for Beltane to arrive. And nothing better to celebrate the turning of the Wheel than to give away... A Wheel of the Year! ;)

I created my magnetic Wheel of the Year to help my little witch to follow the turning of the Wheel and to get used to the Goddess & the God's myth. I think it's a cute way to teach them about it on a playful way. Ours is permanently displayed on the fridge at the reach of his hand. If you want to have one too for your little one, or for yourself, and, along with it, one of my Baby Goddesses or Gods of your choice, join the fun!

To enter (mandatory entry):

* Be or become a follower of my blog, AND LEAVE A COMMENT TELLING WHICH BABY GODDESS OR GOD YOU'D LIKE TO TAKE WITH YOUR WHEEL.

For more chances to win (leave a separate comment for each entry, please!):

* Heart my Carioca Witch Etsy shop (1 entry);

* Blog about this giveaway, leaving the respective URL in the comment (2 entries);

* Twitter about it (1 entry per day - leave me a comment per Twitter with the respective URL).

The giveaway ends on October 31st, when Lucas will pick up the winner from my witch hat. Good luck!! :o)

Of books and hungers

2010-10-16T04:28:00.000-07:00

I think everybody knows I'm a bookworm. Since I've learned how to read, I'm always with a book in my hands (at 9 mom found me with "How to Kill a Mockingbird" and almost fainted because it was too strong for my innocent mind, lol), and there's nothing more comforting for me than to find my bedside table with a pile of book waiting for me to read. The world may be falling apart around me, but if I have a book, it's okay.

Internet is an amusement park for reading lovers, but still, nothing can be compared to the physical book in my humble opinion, I love the weight, the smell of the pages while I turn them eating a bar of chocolate in bed, the beauty of printed words.

Learning is so fun for a hungry soul like mine, and I miss learning something new these past years. As I worked full-time with a tight budget, no extra time and a non-supportive husband, it was impossible to get into any classes (only once, I had Translation complement classes in the evening, a very long time ago). Now that I am here, and things are finally getting back into tracks, I started to get that hunger again. I love mythology, specially the Greek, but lately, since I started creating Deities from the Celtic pantheon for my shop, I developed a passion for these lores, their goddesses and gods. Friends suggested me some books to start diving into this more deeply, but I still want more suggestions - the more the better! So feel free to tell me your favorite Celtic myth/History authors here! Did you hear, Meri?? lol

I already ordered my first two books on the subject: "The Red-Haired Girl from the Bog", by Patricia Monaghan and "The Red Branch", by Morgan Llywelyn. Now I have to be a good witch and patiently wait for them to arrive from across the ocean (we don't have them published yet here)...

Day 16 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-16T04:20:00.001-07:00

Today Mrs. B.'s giving away a wonderful Rambling rune set from Marie Segal's Art from My Heart (I have a couple of lovely witchy art from her, and I can tell they're gorgeous!), a super cute/spooky Skeleton Hands Hair Clip from Brat Boutique, and a lovely Autumn Goddess Doll from Dancing Goddess Dolls!

And don't forget the beautiful Blog Haunted Tour!!

Day 15 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-15T04:21:00.000-07:00

WOW! Today there are more super prizes! Mrs. B. is giving away the unmissable Spellcaster's Reference Book by Eileen Holland from Weiser Books and an awesome custom eye ring from Gypsy Moon Art Studio!

Also two Blog Haunted Tour and the Guest Blogger, check them out!

ABC Wednesday - M is for Morpheus

2010-10-14T17:55:00.000-07:00

Morpheus is one of my favorite gods, just because I love sleeping, and can never sleep long, lol!

He is the Greek winged God of Dreams and Sleep, the "shaper of dreams". Son of Hypnos, god of sleep, and Brightness/Aglia, one of the Graces. Some say he was married to Iris, the Goddess of the Rainbow.

He had the ability of get the shape and form of whomever he wanted, so that he would appear in king's and heroes's dreams to guide and teach them (but he could only take the shape of men). His two brothers were also shape shifters: Phobetor, could take the shape of animals and create terrible, fearsome dreams, and Phantasos, could take the shape of inanimate objects and create fantastic dreams. Together they were known as the Oneiroi.

He himself would sleep in a darkened cave, on black bed, surrounded by poppy flowers (very appropriated!). Morphine is named after this God, and one of my favorite expressions describing sleep is "to be in the arms of Morpheus".

For more M posts, visit the ABC page, created by Denise Nesbitt, and join the fun!

Clothes on!

2010-10-14T04:37:00.000-07:00

So here's the new fashion! I'm so in love with my new layout, and so thankful to Tara and her amazing patience and professional gift! There will be a statue in her honor on mmy city's main park! lol

Let me know what you think about it! And don't hesitate contacting Tara if you want to give your page a new look. She's the best! (and no, she never asked me to spread the word, but I really wanted to, so happy I am with the result!!).

Day 14 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-14T03:59:00.000-07:00

... And the fun goes on! Today Mrs. B. is giving away a super cute Creepy Li'l Grumpies Rubber Stamp Set from Smeared Ink, a lovely Oak Felted Goddess from Shades of Midnight, and a fun Dancing Skeleton Oven Mitts from Darkling Dreams (ooh... unfortunately this one is only for US or Canada residents, it's so cool!)!

And don't forget the Haunted Blog Tour, today featuring Ramblings: A Vaguely Boho Blog, owned by the wonderful and creative writter Kristen Eaton, who's giving away to celebrate her Haunted Tour a custom-written Looseleaf Handcrafted Five Phrases Story set on Halloween, how cool is that?!

New clothes soon!

2010-10-13T04:25:00.000-07:00

I was lucky to win at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party an extreme blog makeover from Tara, the cool mind behind Our Princess in Pigtails Designs last week! So ladie and gentlemen, any time soon you will see my blog wearing brand-new clothes! It's been so exciting working with Tara to get excatly what I want, and she's an awesome professional who knows her business! Stay tuned and tell me if you like it when it's ready! ;)

Day 13 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-13T03:55:00.000-07:00

Today Mrs. B., among others, is giving away a box with an one-of-a-kind Voodude™, and a few store-bought goodies with a Halloween theme from her Mrs. B.'s Brews and Baubles! And cool as she is, she made a contest out of it, check it out! Oh, I would love to add a few more high-quality goodies to my ever growing collection of Mrs. B.'s witchycrafts! ;)

Day 12 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-12T04:11:00.000-07:00

Today Mrs. B. is giving away an amazing 8x10 Cemetery Photo from Photographing the Dead, an Goblin in Thought - 8x10 art print from The Whimsical Cottage and a Personalized Charm from I'm Not Hannah!

And don't foget to check out The Haunted Blog Tour!

Day 11 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-11T06:06:00.001-07:00

Wow.. Great witcheries today!

Mrs. B.'s giving away The Weiser Field Guide to Ghosts, from Weiser Books (omigods, omigods...), a Gift Bath Set from The Sacred Oak and an Art bookmark from The Whimsical Witch (these two look sooooo cool, but only for U.S. and Canada residents, alas... Good lucky on them!).

And of course, the always awesome Haunted Blog Tour and Samhain Notes that are unmissable!

Late updates on Ostara

2010-10-10T18:48:00.000-07:00

Only today I realized I haven't posted a bit about our last sabbath, when a new one is fastly approaching.

Not that there was anything super happening, but I always like to share our simple witchy stuff. This year I made with Lucas fun drawing our favorite pagan symbols on warm eggs with crayons. As the crayon slightly melted, the patterns got soft, beautiful, and the symbols, more vivid to enjoy, not to mention the obvious fun of messing with them!

He prepared his altar on the previous night with his decorated eggs, our old, adorable little egg holders from Pooka's page, our favorite Eostre image of all times by the awesome artist Scott Brooks, a vase of flowers chosen by him, and a yellow candle, everything over a cute kitchen cloth table that I stole from mom, with sunflowers and bees, very much into the Spring spirit!

My little altar had my decorated eggs, flowers picked under the Full Moon from our place, and a sweet fairy card I got from my friend Lyn when I won her cute ET voodoo for Lucas.

Do I need to say he woke up really early on Ostara morning?! lol He was so anxious to see if the Bunny had left him his Kinder Eggs, it's the same every year! ...And his little furry buddy didn't let him down...

We had a good day at home, with our family, just enjoying each other's company. In the evening, we performed our little ritual, calling the quarters with jelly beans, and thanking for one more year of health and love, hoping for abundance on the coming season.

I hope you had a good first day of Autumn as good as our first day of Spring! ;)

Day 10 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-10T05:22:00.000-07:00

Sunday full of fun! Today Mrs. B. gives away a gorgeous African Violet & Amethyst Pendulum from Into the Dawn Designs, fun Tombstone accents & epitaphs from The Frog Queen of Davis Graveyard, an 8X10 of any cemetery print from Good Mourning, Glory! Studios and a handcrafted wand of air from The Wiz Biz!

And of course, the great Blog Haunted Tour & Blogger Guest! Let's party!

Day 9 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-09T05:24:00.000-07:00

Ah, it's Saturday.. And the fun promises to be good as always!

Today Mrs. B. is giving away a lovely Beaded Ankle Bracelet with Hematite and Pewter Charms from Zombie Mom's Undead Household Tips and Recipes and a wonderful Ocean Healing Chant Mug from Blade and Cauldron!

That's a cool way to start the weekend! ;)

The Weekend in Black and White

2010-10-08T20:32:00.000-07:00

Cute red cloves that grow along the sidewalks.

For more monochrome photos, visit the meme's main page, hosted by Dragonstar, and join the fun.

Day 8 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-08T04:11:00.000-07:00

Wow, today is a crazy day! Kris is giving away nothing less than 5 awesome prizes!!

1. Crazy Dog's t-shirt of the winner's choice!

2. Alovely pair of Ocean Side Earrings from Dragonfly's Laughter!

3. The winner's choice of ring from Agony Decay's Creepy Crafts!

4. A cute Halloween Half Apron from Apron Frenzy!

5. A pair of Samhain Earrings from Welsh Witch Emporium!

That's unmissable!

ABC Wednesday - L is for Lilith

2010-10-07T20:19:00.000-07:00

There are lots of Goddesses and Gods starting with "L", but nothing better than Lilith, the independent deity!

This dark Sumerian Goddess is often misinterpreted, but I do like Her. I found an excellent site that summed up pretty well her lore:

"Lilith first appeared in Sumerian mythology about 5,000 years ago. As "handmaid" to the Goddess Inanna, Queen of Heaven, she would gather men in from the fields for the sacred rites. In another Sumerian story, Lilith lives in the sacred huluppu tree that Inanna has planted in her holy garden, accompanied by the snake who cannot be charmed and the wild Anzu-bird and her young. These creatures are part of Lilith's untamed nature and have knowledge to give Inanna, who is not yet ready to accept it. So Inanna calls in her brother, Gilgamesh, to cut down the tree. The serpent is killed, the Anzu-bird and its family fly off to the mountains, and Lilith departs for the wilderness.

This story may be the foundation of the most well-known Hebrew myth of Lilith as the first wife of Adam. According to one version of the story, Yahweh creates both Adam and Lilith from earth, but with one important difference: he uses impure sediments to create Lilith, whereas Adam has been fashioned from pure dust. Because of this, Adam expects Lilith to be submissive to him, but, claiming equality, she will not be put beneath him and flies away to lifelong exile near the Red Sea, where she mates with evil spirits and bears scores of demonic children. Meanwhile, Yahweh again tries to create a partner for Adam, this time taking one of his ribs and turning it into Eve - now she is a creation from Adam and not one in her own right, like Lilith. Myth has it that the jealousy and rage generated by Adam's rejection motivate Lilith to come in the night for her revenge, strangling babies and giving men wet dreams to sap their strength. Amulets were worn to ward her off."

How awesome is that?! Except for the 'strangling babies' part, I love how she dealt with the men who crossed her will (some men deserve this... Maybe not all men, but some do deserve it, lol!).

For more L posts, visit the ABC page, created by Denise Nesbitt, and join the fun!

Day 7 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween party!

2010-10-07T03:58:00.000-07:00

So many cool stuff today! Mrs. B. is giving away a beautiful set of Ocean Heart Prayer Beads from Sithmomma, a fun Gargoyle Altered Art Necklace from Shadow of the Goddess Designs, and a perfect-for-kids Pumpkinland CD from 13th Track!

As usual, there are the Hauned Blog Tour, the Guest Blogger, and tody the first Blast rom the Past, check them out!

Day 6 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-06T08:13:00.000-07:00

Today Mrs. B. gives away a Runic pendant made from a piece of wood of the winner's choice from Heksebua shop, plus an extreme blog makeover from Our Princess in Pigtails Designs, and a lovely altar Samhain cloth from Deep Inside my Broom Closet! And don't forge to visit the Guest Blogger and take the Haunted Blog Tour! ;)

New witchycrafties - Part II

2010-10-05T14:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the nightmare goes on, but it will be over soon, be patient! lol

Remember my last giveaway? The Ostara/Mabon set? Suzie was the winner picked my little witch, and she chose Baby Hestia, so I coordinated the items for her. I still need to create a Big Hestia. She's my favorite Goddess, and I just love how She ended up as a Baby, with the wooden spoon and the broom crossed on her chest. In the bigger version I can add more of Her symbols, I'll make it next week, hopefully! She set must be arriving one of these days in Canada:

Then two great and sweet ladies came with the same request for me to create Morrigan - there's o such thing as coincidence in my world... It was a pleasure to embroider Her for them, I'm so in love with Celtic deities lately! I placed a raven under the waning moon with her swords, shield and spear, and filled Her with mugwort. She's becoming popular at the shop:

And here's Her Duo:

... And talking about Duos, I'm trying to make one for each Goddess. I have these two, besides the three others I already posted before:
Airmid...

... And Mabon:

I'll be happy when I have a Baby and a Duo for all the deities. A day at a time...

And to close this never-ending post with a Halloween spice, I've got a new pumpkin keychain, filled with mugwort and cinnamon, as well as a ghostie (this is relisted, but couldn't help recreating it!):

Soo.. That's it! Everybody can wake up now and relax, lol! At least, until my next "new witchycrafts" attack! ;)

Dat 5 at Mrs. B.'s Halloween Party!

2010-10-05T05:32:00.001-07:00

One more day of wicked fun!

Today Mrs. B. is giving away a set of three 0.5 ounce handcrafted Flower Essences customized for th winner, from Walk in the Woods shop!

Check it out! There's also today's cool Hautend Blog tour and Guest Blogger!