Snake Medicine

י״ט בטבת תשע"א
Grael 22

Commentary on Shemot from Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - Snake Medicine.

Winter Solstice Sunrise Live From Newgrange

י״ד בטבת תשע"א
Grael 17

Witness the Winter Solstice sunrise live from the inner chamber at Newgrange here.

RTÉ.ie will be streaming the Winter Solstice sunrise from the inner chamber at Newgrange from 8.55am GMT on 21 December. This time corresponds to Tuesday, December 21, 2010 at 02:55 AM CST in the United States.

The Five Ladies of Avalon In My Life

י״ב בטבת תשע"א
Grael 15

In follow-up to my previous several entries, as my descent to the uplifting Tor and confrontation with my Ancestors are linked to Avalonian Ladies Rhiannon and Ceridwen, respectively, and as Lady Arianrhod emerged (following descent, uplifting and confrontation) as I have lived and do live my life continually like Lady Blodeuwedd, daring to be true to myself and rejecting to remain within the confining expectations of others, like Lady Branwen, integration issues forth (as described in The Tribes of my Soul).

Names

י״א בטבת תשע"א
Grael 14

As we head into Shemot, the Torah book called Names, among my own names, those connecting most closely to my pan-Celtic and pan-Jewish folksouls are:

Heulwen/Hwylwen, my Avalonian name - meaning "light of the sun, light of unity"

Myfanwy, my Noble name - meaning "fine, rare one"

Lleucu, my Craft name - meaning "beloved light" and "daybreak"

Liorah Chanah, my Hebrew names - meaning "my light and grace"

The Tribes Of My Soul

י״א בטבת תשע"א
Grael 14

Commentary on Vayechi from Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - The Tribes of my Soul.

Arianrhod: The Tribe Has Spoken

י״א בטבת תשע"א
Grael 14

In follow-up to my previous entry In Our Likeness, as I sat at the kitchen table with my pitcher of cooled wax thinking about my dream, in the other room, my father was watching the Wheel of Fortune (like Arianrhod). I was tapped out of my daydream about my dream by the synchronicity I heard blasting from the other room. One of the show's contestants shouted the answer to a puzzle, "the Tribe has spoken!"

In Our Likeness

י׳ בטבת תשע"א
Grael 13

The Na'vi say that every person is born twice. The second time is when you earn your place among The People forever ... [Jake Sully in Avatar]

וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ
And Elohim [Divine Ancestors] said: 'Let us make the human in our image, after our likeness ... [Genesis/Bereshit 1:26]

Early this morning I dreamt.

Like the twice born Druid-Bard Taliesin (whose name means shining brow and who was first born as Gwion) was chased by the shapeshifting Welsh goddess Ceridwen to earn the gifts of Divine wisdom and prophecy, I was chased up a tree by a mythic sized white cow like the sacred white cow of Irish goddess of bounty Boann. Amidst the upper branches of the tree, the white cow bit at to eat me. She was shot by a bullet and (like the Glastonbury thorn tree was recently felled) fell from the bough of the tree.

Like the sacred white cow fell, I too fell from the bough of the tree and discovered that, also like the cow, I too had been shot with a bullet. I had been shot in the left hip, like my twice born Jewish ancestor Jacob was injured in the hip when he wrestled with the Divine stranger in the darkness and earned the greater name Israel, like Gwion earned the greater name Taliesin through his wrestling with Ceridwen.

When I fell from the bough of the tree, I landed in a pit, like my Jewish-Egyptian ancestor Joseph had been thrown into a dry snake and scorpion filled pit by his brothers, which in my dream, was like an underworld cavern, like the cavern in the Celtic Avalonian immram to the Tor.

The living inner surface of the dark stone walls and floor of the pit-cavern emanated brightly like my guide-myself Heulwen-Hwylwen. The bright living emanations reached out, moved toward and surrounded me. The emanations were made of myriads of intertwining arm-like roots like the roots of the Celtic Tree of Life and surrounded me like the Celtic Tree of Life's roots surround the tree itself. Like the roots of the Mother-Ancestor Tree of Souls of the Pandorian Goddess embraced Jake Sully in the movie Avatar, the bright arm-roots emanating with light walked out from the cavern's surfaces shapeshifting into the embracing loving arms of my Ancestors.

Like Jake Sully in the physical body of his avatar, embraced by the Ancestors in the arms of the Divine Tree of Souls, I woke up.

Like Jacob is reborn Israel, and Gwion is reborn Taliesin, I am reborn Heulwen-Hwylwen.

The Cloak of Invisibility

ה' בטבת תשע"א
Grael 8

My dream early this morning confirmed Hwylwen's continuing protection of me even beyond the meditative Avalonian immrama. Among the dream's scenes, I and a male companion were cloaked with invisibility from the entities of judgment.

This cloak of invisibility is related to the protective cover of Hwylwen's black Raven wings as described in My Guide Heulwen (Hwylwen). In another scene, my companion and I, to proceed on with the journey, jumped off a cliff in the moonlight toward the sea - however, we never hit the water. Instead, we landed on dry land in the sunlight. Interestingly, as I didn't describe entering the water of the Red Spring in the linked report of the immram, neither did I enter into or become swallowed up by the water in my dream.

Dance of the Dragons

ה' בטבת תשע"א
Grael 8

Commentary on Vayigash from Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - Dance of the Dragons.

Hwylwen-Heulwen and the Unified Collective Celtic Folksoul

ד' בטבת תשע"א
Grael 7

In follow-up to my blog entries [Cryptic Message For My Sisters and Brothers and My Guide Heulwen], I am excited to note that Heulwen can also be written Hwylwen.

The first syllable hwyl, in addition to meaning sun, also means sail (sounding like the encrypted double word Sale Sale seen in my first dream)! I interpreted this "encrypted" word Sale to be referring to the Ogam letter Saille (which can also be written in English as Sail).

The association of Heulwen/Hwylwen to the word hwyl is significant to me. Michael Quionion provides insight on the word hwyl:

This is how it was described in Garthowen, by Allen Raine (1900):

Will was certainly an eloquent preacher, if not a born orator, and possessed that peculiar gift known in Wales as “hwyl” — a sudden ecstatic inspiration, which carries the speaker away on its wings, supplying him with burning words of eloquence, which in his calmer and normal state he could never have chosen for himself.

That’s much how it’s understood in English. But in Welsh the word more often refers to a complex and intangible quality of passion and sense of belonging that isn’t easy to translate but which has been said to sum up Welshness in a word.

Its origins lie in a much older sense of the sail of a ship and hence elliptically one’s course — in life rather than on the sea.

Hwyl is to the Celtic folksoul as Achdut is to the Jewish folksoul - both terms refer to a unified collective folksoul. My Hwylwen represents my enduring immutable connection to the Celtic folksoul - this is so very exciting to me! My Guide not only represents my Avalonian High Priestess-Goddess self, She also represents my Celtic birthright and Place as both a Timeless Ancestor among and Descendant of the collective Celtic Folksoul.

Blessed be Goddess for bringing to this day!

My Guide Heulwen

ד' בטבת תשע"א
Grael 7

Tonight, as I walked from the shore of Avalon to the Mother Tree at the Isle's heart, my dark haired faery friend (as described in this blog post) followed me along the way, always staying within the cover of trees. At the Mother Tree, my faery friend disappeared and re-emerged enveloped in light as my Guide. She said nothing at all. She communicated her name ~ Heulwen ~ wordlessly. Heulwen, pronounced Haylwen, means light of the Sun. An aura of shimmering light dancing with a multitude of tiny twinkling lights surrounded her always. She wore a beautiful Celtic circlet of white gold. Her fluid white gold hair and gown blended perfectly into the light and space around her - they were all one. She was not separate at all from the environment. As we joined hands, I joined Her in this inseparable union with Avalon - my Being too glowed with the light of Her. Before we completely united at the water of the Red Spring, She revealed and spread beautiful large black Raven wings for me to see (which had been hidden until that point). I am still completely enveloped in the protective power of Her sacred wings.

Cryptic Message for My Sisters and Brothers

ב' בטבת תשע"א
Grael 5

I received my copy of Avalon Within a few days ago and undertook my first Immram to Avalon last night. I willfully completed this first Immram at the point where I stepped from the barge for the first time upon the shore of Ynys Afallon, willing to be shown my guide before proceeding any further. I thought I would be shown my guide in a follow-up dream over night. However, immediately and unexpectedly, I saw the face of a hobbit-sized dark haired faery creature peek out at me from among the island trees at the edge of a beautiful grove just off the shore landing.

Following this Immram and unexpected encounter with the faery creature of Avalon, early this morning I dreamt a dream, the details of which I am not write for the safety of one whom we have been protecting down through the ages. However, there was one portion of the dream containing a cryptic message that I am to write, and to make known to the Sisterhood (and related Brotherhood as well, which includes both my Celtic Druid and Jewish Mystical School kindred), who are working together to protect this person) even though it is dangerous to do so - for in writing it, it provides a navigational tracking fix (so to speak) for those from whom we are protecting this archetypal "person" (AND to track/locate the person who is carrying him down any particular path through time). Despite this danger, I am to write it because someone among us needs to know this encrypted information, which is:

The critical message is contained within the arrangement, as the wooden blocks are "lined up." In "lining up" the wooden blocks resting on top of his clothes (as they were left during this past period of time) in the middle drawer in his abandoned chest of drawers, as they fit together the letters become revealed. (In the dream) the letters revealed formed the doubled words "Sale Sale." The true meaning is not the obvious meaning of the words as they are seen. The true meaning is hidden within the context of this message.

The Home Coming

ב' בטבת תשע"א
Grael 5

Beautiful traditional Celtic music.

Dream Mistress on the Art of Reconciliation

כ״ח בכסלו תשע"א
Grael 1

Commentary on Miketz from Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - Dream Mistress on the Art of Reconciliation.

BRAINS!

כ״ו בכסלו תשע"א
Shamash 29



Related entries:

The Grim Adventures of CHUD and Myfanwy
CHUD - The Face of My Worst Fear?

The Grim Adventures of CHUD and Myfanwy

כ״ו בכסלו תשע"א
Shamash 29

In follow-up to my previous entry CHUD - The Face of My Worst Fear?, I must say that right now I feel a bit like Mandy (from the cartoon The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy) in the episode BRAINS!

Wiki describes the plot of BRAINS!:

Billy has nobody to play with late at night, and so he wishes upon a star for a friend. The star falls into his backyard - but it isn't a star, it's a brain eating alien meteorite. First, he tried to eat Billy's brain, but there's nothing in Billy's head. The Meteorite (through song) uses Billy to get all of the brains in town, while Billy is thinking that it's all just a game, and that the meteorite is his friend, who oddly gives Billy a zoot suit to wear. Eventually, there was only one brain left in the town - Mandy's. When she came over to see what's going on, the meteor eats her brain, but with unexpected consequences. Once the meteorite eats Mandy's brain, he melts away, screaming in pain, resurfacing as a pink brain, shaped as Mandy's head. Mandy explains that her brain was too spicy, and commands Billy to go and fetch more brains.

In other words, the brain-eating alien meteorite who, after eating Mandy's brain, is Itself eaten and taken over by Mandy's superior brain!

I totally love this cartoon.

UPDATED with video of the episode BRAINS!

CHUD - The Face of My Worst Fear?

כ״ו בכסלו תשע"א
Shamash 29

Last night I dreamt.

There was a designated group of people. I traveled through a series of scenes where each person in the group died in various gruesome ways and in various extraordinary situations that could never happen in real life. It was like death was picking each one off. I was the last one left alive.

I escaped death by making it to a castle where the magical King and Queen lived. They were the ones who had set all this in motion. But, they didn't kill me. I killed them defending myself. But, I was still not safe.

It, whatever It was, was still after me. I hid in a closet-hall in the castle. It was looking for me. I heard a Voice say to It, "CHUD, she's in there."

Then, It found me and I saw It, the thing called by the name CHUD. CHUD was a beautiful blue-white sphere of energy-like light. It paused at the end of the hall as It detected me. With nowhere to run or hide, I looked at It as It looked at me, we each meeting the "gaze" of one another inasmuch as one can meet the gaze of a sphere of light. Then, It rushed forward toward me and "killed" me as It made contact and merged with me. I "died," shapeshifting into a supernova of light ... and woke up.

CHUD? Wiki on Stephen King's novel It (which by the way, I've not read nor have I seen the film) and It's CHUD:

The Losers are not the only persons to encounter It; various children vanish to be found dead and mutilated days, weeks, or months later, if they turn up at all. The Losers determine to destroy the supernatural being and seek out means to that end. After some research in the town library, Bill discovers an ancient spell known as the Ritual of Chüd, in which a shapeshifting monster called a "talus" and a human shaman lock tongues and tell jokes; the first to laugh is devoured by the other.

At the house the boys are attacked by It, each perceiving a different form of the creature: Bill sees It as Pennywise and Richie sees It as a Werewolf.

There was alot of mutilation deaths throughout my dream. One of the deaths in my dream involved a man's tongue getting bitten off by the teenage girl protecting me (who is axed to death by the man whose tongue she bit off protecting me). I never laugh. I am hidden and hide throughout the dream, which I why I was the last one left alive.

Bill believes this ritual will allow them to defeat and kill It. While the seven are building an underground clubhouse in the Barrens in mid-July, Mike Hanlon brings his father's photo album and shows it to them all. The group discovers that Pennywise has existed for many centuries in the Derry area. In one photograph, Pennywise again appears and threatens to kill them all, appearing to them all as their worst fears.

A sphere of Light? This is the face of my worst fear? It's got to be kidding. Now, I'm laughing.

New Chapter with the Avalonian Tradition

כ״ג בכסלו תשע"א
Shamash 26

I'm really excited to begin this new chapter in my life. Readers of my blogs may see some design changes (starting today) as I reclaim and flesh out my ancient pagan Celtic heritage in a more deliberate and focused manner than I have in the past.

Witchcraft has brought spiritual healing into my tattered life over the past several years, and now the specific Goddess focused Avalonian Tradition of Witchcraft will bring healing out even more fully. While I recognize the parallel importance of a Divine Masculine path, the path of the Divine Feminine is the way for me. Blessed be my Ancestors for bringing me to this day.

The Sacred Land's Green Mantle

כ׳ בכסלו תשע"א
Shamash 23

Commentary on Vayeshev from Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - The Sacred Land's Green Mantle.

How to Pronounce Myfanwy in Welsh

כ׳ בכסלו תשע"א
Shamash 23

Myfanwy pronunciation: Listen and hear how to pronounce my Noble Name "Myfanwy" in Welsh forvo.com/word/myfanwy/ .

Seventh Grandchild On The Way

י״ט בכסלו תשע"א
Shamash 22

My seventh grandchild is on the way! My youngest son and his long time girlfriend are expecting their first.

Goddess bless this child with all goodness, that s/he be born healthy, happy and enveloped in love.

So mote it be! אמן

The Magic of Numbers

י״ז בכסלו תשע"א
Shamash 20

I feel my good work is vindicated now (after this nursing facility fired me this past August 2nd for refusing to discipline one of my union restorative staff without written policy support) after I worked so hard to drive their total Medicare-A reimbursements up 40.2% during the first full quarter of my employment there. Now, and I quote - "After a series of months in the black, finances at the Champaign County Nursing Home have taken a turn for the worse ..."

I just came across this - the News-Gazette reported 10/18/2010 (a month ago):

URBANA – After a series of months in the black, finances at the Champaign County Nursing Home have taken a turn for the worse.

But the facility is still about $100,000 ahead for the year, the county nursing home board of directors learned Monday night.

August and September turned out to be tough months for the county-operated facility, with a loss of about $24,000 in August and another $15,000 in September, according to nursing home director Andrew Buffenbarger. That came after three consecutive months with net income of $66,191 to $91,766.

August originally was in the black until officials discovered that not enough money was being deducted for retirement expenses. All of the mid-year correction of about $47,000 was taken in August, resulting in a loss for the month of $24,000. The loss in September was attributed mostly to pharmacy costs and higher than expected staffing costs.

Their census is down too, making it even worse.

Just the facts.

Certificate of Business Ownership

י״ו בכסלו תשע"א
Shamash 19

I finished up the process and received my Certificate of Business Ownership for WITCHCRAFTS by Liorah Lleucu today from the County. For only a few bucks, I've also purchased some promotion spots on Etsy for my shoppe over the weekend and on Cyber Monday. I hope it pays off. I have bills to pay.

I am really hoping to get some new cool candles listed before the promotion begins too. I wish my supplies would hurry up and arrive - I've got some really neat plans for some awesome candle designs!

Lilith

י״ג בכסלו תשע"א
Shamash 16

Commentary on Vayishlach from Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - Lilith.

Good Tax News

י״א בכסלו תשע"א
Shamash 14

My stress level has just plummeted. I just finished talking to a very nice lady agent at the Illinois Dept. of Revenue and found out I only have to collect and pay sales taxes on sales shipped to customers living in Illinois! That makes things so much easier. My tax bill is also going to be so much cheaper than I thought as I have had only a handful of Illinois customers at most for all of 2009 and 2010 to date! The rest of my sales receipts (the vast majority) can be deducted via the interstate commerce deduction allowance. I'll probably owe less than $5 in sales tax when it get it all figured.

Yay!

I've also ordered Deduct It! Lower Your Small Business Taxes for use when figuring my income taxes for 2010.

Brain Time-Out

י״א בכסלו תשע"א
Shamash 14

I'm trying to figure out how to pay my sales taxes and I definitely need to take a brain break right now. They didn't send me any preprinted ST-1 forms so I could file for the early months of 2009 since I can't file those online. One of those quarters I had only $9.50 in total sales - doesn't seem hardly worth filing for, but alas I must pay my 59 cents or so for that quarter, so they should have sent me some forms to file with since they don't have the forms available online and the option to file for those quarters electronically isn't available either! They want people to pay their taxes, right? So, why do they not give you all the stuff you need to do it right off the bat? I need them to verify my sales tax rate is correct too. They should have provided me with this information I think.

I'll work on this some more tomorrow when I can contact someone for answers and forms. I'm finished with it for tonight.

Magical Operation

י״א בכסלו תשע"א
Shamash 14

Last night I dreamt a dream with three sets of threes.

Set 1. Three Liquors.

I was in a fancy restaurant with a bar along one wall. For some reason, I was asked to and did point out three bottles of liquor from among many I was shown that were especially magical. One among the three I chose was especially especially magical, and I designated it as such. The three liquors I chose were classy liquors although I don't know now specifically which ones I picked out and designated as especially magical. In the background, someone was trying to make trouble for me there, so I left and escaped the trouble in my black car which someone was trying to steal.

Arriving at another nice restaurant, I got out of my car and walked into its foyer. It was shabbat and people were crowding into the restaurant around me for dinner. On a shelf overhead, someone requested that a reserved box of three especially magical liquors be brought out to celebrate shabbat. The three special liquors in the special reserved box were the ones I had just chosen in the first restaurant, the very very magical one among them especially caught my eye.

Set 2. Three People.

There were three people standing on the Temple Mount Stonehenge Land - the Land was elevated upon a mystical hill - two men and me, a woman. There was no Temple building or standing stones there on the Land, it was just the Land upon we stood. We were going to do a magical operation whereby cosmic energy would be directed.

Set 3. Three Circles.

Each one of the three of us standing on the Temple Mount Stonehenge Land walked a circle like an orbit around some empty central point. I walked an orbit between the orbits walked by the men. I walked my orbit widdershins. They walked their orbits in the direction opposite mine. This was the way the magical operation was implemented.

Ancestral Ladder

ו' בכסלו תשע"א
Shamash 9

Commentary on Vayetzei from Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - Ancestral Ladder.

The Red Meal

כ״ט בחשון תשע"א
Shamash 2

Commentary on Toldot from Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - The Red Meal.

Voice of the Land

כ״ט בחשון תשע"א
Shamash 2

This evening begins astrological Samhain. Last evening and today is Shabbat Samhain. In observance of this shabbat sabbat, a sabbat shabbaton of the witchy kind, I ritually created a passage key link between this world and the Otherworld Mystery of Fate using the name of my ancestor and grandmother Evelyn (who has merged with the Power within the Land) to call upon the Goddess of the Old Ways (known in the ancient Celtic mysteries as Kolyo). The ritual itself, though undisclosed here, was exquisitely simple but perfectly focused.

Then, I dreamt a myriad of dreams last night and this morning. Of the many journeys I traveled in my dreams, this dream I disclose ...

The molten innards of the Land were rising to the surface. Under my feet, everywhere I walked, the bright orange of rising lava could be seen under the dissolving membrane of earth which covered it. The world as I knew it was dissolving.

I saw people falling into rivers and seas of molten earth as it rose to the surface. The surface under my feet was warming, and no matter where I went, civilization was being swallowed up in an ocean of lava. I was trying to find some place safe to walk upon, some place that would be spared being consumed by the rising liquid fire. Humankind, like in the mythologic flood of Noah's time, was being swallowed up. There was seemingly no way to escape it.

Suddenly, in my mind it was spoken and made known to me, the only place to which I could flee to find refuge from the consuming fire of the Innards of the Earth, the only Land on the planet which would be spared, the only place where human beings would continue to exist, was in ... "the Colorado mountains."

Then, as I was hurriedly moving from area to area of quickly dissolving Land (as soon as I stepped off any area, it fully collapsed into the emerging ocean of molten earth), I saw it - the remnant of humanity, with me among it, living safely in the Colorado mountains. Then, I woke up from this particular dream.

The Colorado mountains? What can this mean?

The mountains of koloraydoh - 'Kolyo Raidho' are the 'mountains of Kolorado.'

In honor of my Ancestors, uniting Celtic tradition ...

Kolyo is the Divine Name of the Great Mother of All - Ubiquitous, Omnipresent, Immortal and Eternal. In Indo-European Paganism and Celtic tradition, Kolyo is She who drives the Divine Drama and gives birth to the Gods and Goddesses. The Supreme Spinning Goddess, She is the First Timeless Source who regenerates All. A Being and Power older than Time itself, Kolyo spins the threads of Fate.

... and Germanic tradition ...

Raidho is the rune of Divine Law, of the Old Ways, of travel and movement, of the journey of the Soul and Spirit throughout the tapestry of time and timelessness. It is the path upon which Being walks, and all my paths lead to Kolyo Raidho, the Witch who contains both upstairs (in the Overworld) and downstairs (in the Underworld).

... and Jewish tradition.

In parallel, the 'mountains' of kolorado are the three Goddess letters 'y' (yud, י), 'i' (yod, י) and 'h' (hei, ה) in the Divine Name 'Kolyo Raidho.' These three letters (ייה) permute to form the Divine Name Yihye (יהי, meaning 'to be', 'to become', 'exist', 'happen') of Jewish tradition (where my own existent physicality forms the final ה of the Name Yihyeh (יהיה, the Divine Feminine Tetragrammaton) also meaning 'to be', 'to become', 'exist', 'happen'.

The remaining letters of the Divine Name Kolyo Raidho transliterated into magical Hebrew letters (קולו and ראידו) have the gematriot of 142 and 211, respectively. The value 142 has a digit sum of 7, the number of shabbat, the sacred time of this magical communion. The value 211 is the value of the word הדבר meaning 'to speak', 'to overcome obstacles', 'happenings', 'leader' and the 'mystical sayings' of the ten commandments spoken from the mountain of Sinai. Alternatively and equally, the value 211 is the value of the word דברה meaning 'She speaks.'

Through Goddess the Land speaks. In Goddess the Torah's sayings are sourced, for ultimately, they are Her words.

Safety for me exists in and all my paths lead to the Old Ways of Goddess.

Vindicated!

כ״ז בחשון תשע"א
Phasma Priscus 29

More good news in follow-up to my entry Upright and Just, where I considered the ethical issue I am having with a witch who is trying to claim I infringed upon her copyright by making and selling a drippy black pentacled pillar candle in my Etsy shoppe WITCHCRAFTS by Liorah Lleucu.

Well, I turned her in to Etsy after she sent me a certified letter advancing her threat to sue me for copyright infringement if I didn't stop selling my candle. With copyright law clearly on my side (I in no way infringed upon any copyright as she is trying to claim), and given that she is the owner of candle company with legal counsel available to her, her legally unfounded claim makes her threat to sue me abuse of the legal system to conduct a campaign of slander and harassment. She also has been harassing me via email, and apparently has been slandering me and trying to stir up trouble for me using Etsy forums.

With the claim and the evidence presented to Etsy, Etsy found that:

1. No copyright law had been violated.
2. That having been told not to contact me any further, any further contact this witch may try to have with me is a violation of Etsy policy and I am to let them know if it occurs, in which case, she may be banned from doing business on Etsy.
3. That she is not to slander me or my shoppe any more using the Etsy forums.
   

I am vindicated! Yay!

More News On WITCHCRAFTS Start-Up

כ״ז בחשון תשע"א
Phasma Priscus 29

Hey, hey! I received my Illinois Business Authorization and Certificate of Registration today for WITCHCRAFTS by Liorah Lleucu! I have an official business tax ID number now. I think this also means that I can now buy my craft supplies wholesale too! It's expensive to make craft items when you can't get wholesale supplies. Now, if I only had the money to buy some wholesale supplies .... in time, in time. I have patience, even if I am very excited to get started.

So cool!

My New Small Business News

כ״ז בחשון תשע"א
Phasma Priscus 29

In follow-up to last week's entry Transitioning From Hobby To Business,where I registered WITCHCRAFTS by Liorah Lleucu with the state, this past Monday I took the next step and registered with the County, filing an Assumed Name Certificate Intention. Tomorrow, the local newspaper begins running my Assumed Name Publication Notice in the legal section of the newspaper.

I'm now waiting for tax filing information from the state to get my business taxes in order.

Next on my list ... to find out about business tax deductions and how to deduct my start-up costs and other expenditures, and how to put together a small business-wise bookkeeping system.

The box under my desk with all my receipts and other documents still waits for some organization ... but, at least I'm on my way.

The Thin Veil

כ״ב בחשון תשע"א
Phasma Priscus 24

Commentary on Chayyei Sarah from Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - The Thin Veil.

Transitioning From Hobby To Business

כ״א בחשון תשע"א
Phasma Priscus 23

Well, I did it! Yay! I really want to make this go while I have the opportunity. This is my chance to do it. Oh Goddess, make it happen!

I've started the transition of my witchcrafting from hobby to home-based business! I just got through filing an application with the state of Illinois to register WITCHCRAFTS by Liorah Lleucu as a business and to get a business tax ID number. This year I've had enough sales to make it worthwhile to at least try to grow WITCHCRAFTS into a full fledged business.

I am so excited, but a little bit intimidated about trying to figure out all that is legally required of a business. So, I bought "Home-Based Business For Dummies." I need to get it figured out by April 15th for sure. I need a bookkeeping system too. Right now, all my receipts and records are in a big box under my desk. That is not going to work at all if my sales really start taking off. I've got to get this organized or I may go insane.

I think I also may have to register WITCHCRAFTS by Liorah LLeucu (my "Doing Business As" name) with the County Clerk too, so that is next on my 'to do' list. Then, I'm going to create a business logo, and as soon as I get the money, I'm going to Trademark my business name. I wonder how much it costs to do that? Anyone out there know?

What My Customers Are Saying

י״ח בחשון תשע"א
Phasma Priscus 20

What the Customers of WITCHCRAFTS by Liorah Lleucu are writing about the products purchased from WITCHCRAFTS and the excellent service:

"Arrived quickly, beautifully packaged and obviously potent! I couldn't have wished for more. The depth, scent and beauty of the item is outstanding."

"I absolutely LOVE this! So cute and beautifully packaged!"

"Way beyond expectation, Love your shop - thanks so much!"

"Wow - these are fantastic! amazing scent, very special set. Will be back!"

"Awesome candles! Most impressive, and wonderful additions to the holyday to come."

"Beautifully packaged and sent like a gift more than an item to be purchased. Product is subtle yet powerful."

"I cannot rave enough about Lori and her products. Truly magickal, both of them."

"So good to find the 'real thing', it is so rare.."

"Gorgeous. LOVE your packaging, like opening a gift to ones self."

"I'm stocking up before others find these. I'm completely being selfish. WE LOVE THIS CANDLE."

"I HAD to have this."

"Absolutely GORGEOUS! It was beautifully wrapped, (the cinnamon piece was a nice touch) and came quickly and in great condition! The crystal is also wonderful, and the piece itself is my favorite chord now. Very very good."

"Truly, one of a kind. A true Witch who creates true products... no 'assembly line' feel, which is magickal in itself."

"SWEET!!!!"

"Absolutely amazing!"

"My Genuine Wolfsbane Talisman Pendant is beautiful! It is absolutely perfect! I love it!"

"Absolutely beautiful!"

"Awesome item, super fast shipping, and wonderful to deal with!"

"The smudge wand is simply perfect!"

"Another great product. You can always count on Liorah for superb quality and service. I am a repeat customer and will be back again for sure."

If you haven't checked out WITCHCRAFTS by Liorah Lleucu, you don't know what you're missing!

Upright and Just

ט״ו בחשון תשע"א
Phasma Priscus 17

Commentary on Vayeira from Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - Upright and Just.

The Experiment

י׳ בחשון תשע"א
Phasma Priscus 12

I had a rather unusual dream last night.

In the dream, I was not in my physical body even though I was in a type of astral dream body that had a form similar to my physical body. I knew I was not in my physical body, which was laying like an empty avatar in front of me.

I was 'making repairs' to my physical body - specifically, I was painting a coat of clear polish onto the skin of the tops of both my shoeless and sockless feet. Looking for cuts or abrasions or other imperfections to fix, I saw none. The only thing I needed to do, I did - which was to put on the clear polish.

Finished with the polishing, I had a curious idea. I wanted to see if the astral body I was in could feel it (in my astral body's big toe) if I (with my astral body fingers) pinched the big toe of my physical body. I wondered. I decided to experiment and put the idea to the test.

With the right hand of my astral body I pinched the left big toe of my physical body. Nope - my astral body's big toe didn't feel the pinch.

That question answered, I took off flying through the place I was in - because, even as my physical body lay grounded, in my astral body I can fly! - weeeee!

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1.03.01

Experiencing Another Being

ח' בחשון תשע"א
Phasma Priscus 10

Commentary om Lech-Lecha from Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - Experiencing Another Being.

The Spirit of Understanding

כ״ח בתשרי תשע"א
Blodlessing 29

Commentary on Vezot Haberachah, Bereshit and Noach from Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - The Spirit of Understanding.

Prayer and Healing Spell Request

כ״א בתשרי תשע"א
Blodlessing 22

My oldest son is having spinal surgery tomorrow. I ask all my friends and readers to please say a prayer or healing spell for Jeremy - that the surgery go well without complication and that full healing comes to Jeremy, completely and speedily.

Thank you!

Samhain Giveaway-Promotion

כ״א בתשרי תשע"א
Blodlessing 22

WITCHCRAFTS by Liorah Lleucu is being promoted in a Samhain Giveaway at Love of the Goddess. I've donated one of my DARK HARVEST Samhain Ritual Oils. Check out the link and read Tara's interview of me as the owner of WITCHCRAFTS for the Samhain giveaway-promotion.

Perfect SALEM

ח' בתשרי תשע"א
Blodlessing 9

I'm getting so good at making candles! I've perfected the wick size (still using pure cotton) and just look at a picture of this latest one of SALEM - isn't it just absolutely gorgeous?

Kindred

ג' בתשרי תשע"א
Blodlessing 4

Commentary on Ha'Azinu from Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - Kindred.

Have A Blessed New Year

כ״ט באלול תש"ע
Blodlessing 1

May all my family, friends and readers be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life, find deep and lasting joy, and be Divinely blessed with all good on this New Year.

New Year, New Goal

כ״ח באלול תש"ע
Belz 30

Well, I've lost more weight since I last weighed myself - over 10 pounds more! Yay!

I've altogether lost 50 post-depression pounds and can get into this gothic witch skirt now. Success! I've achieved my goal ... now I have a new goal.

This is definitely a good way to start the New Year!

Experiments In Black

כ״ו באלול תש"ע
Belz 28

Well, I think I've finally got a good ratio of black dye to use in my handcrafted SALEM black soy candles (soon to be available at WITCHCRAFTS by Liorah Lleucu). Let me tell ya, soy does not take color as readily as paraffin.

I also think I've got a good fragrance ratio for the blend of Dragon's Blood oil I'm using to scent it - it was actually a bit tricky to make the fragrance I wanted. I'll know for sure in a few days when I do the burn test (after the completed candle has cured for 48 hours) if I'll have a good scent throw using this blend and amount. Did you know soy has memory? I do now.

I'm still working on an optimum wick for my smallest size SALEM black pillar (2" x 3"). After the burn test, a judgment will be made as to if I've found the right one to complement all the ingredients I'm using in this candle.

Captain's log note - I've mastered the art of pouring! Yay!

I feel like I've turned my bedroom into a scientific laboratory with all these experimental notes I'm putting into my Book of Shadows. Yes, I've set up my candle making paraphernalia right in my own room with a little table and all. This way I can work on it any time I want to.

A good black soy candle is pretty hard to find commercially - one scented perfectly with Dragon's Blood is impossible to find. The end result of my experiments will definitely be worth it.

Next up, I may start my experiments with hand dipped tapers.

Do you know how much fun candle making is? This is great! I'm going to be a real chandler.

The Lord's Frustration, The Lady's Understanding

כ״ה באלול תש"ע
Belz 27

Commentary on Nitzavim-Vayeilech from Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - The Lord's Frustration, The Lady's Understanding.

Magic Candlesticks

כ״ג באלול תש"ע
Belz 25

Ooooh! Ahhh! Look what I found at the second hand store! One woman's trash is another woman's treasure!


My magic candlesticks (with hand dipped red spell candles in them).

These vintage candlesticks are so ugly, they're beautiful - it was love at first sight! I'm smitten and adore them so much. I paid next to nothing for them too - isn't that extra great?! These magic candlesticks were made for this witch, for sure, for sure. These are just the best!

The light reflects through the faceted red glass spheres like there is fire inside them! Oh my, oh my - I'm in witch heaven! Oooh! Ahhh!



By the way, I will soon be selling hand dipped spell and shabbat candles (made with kosher wax) on my Etsy shoppe - WITCHCRAFTS by LiorahLleucu - check it out in a week or two!

Unexpected Results

י״ח באלול תש"ע
Belz 20

Commentary on Ki Tavo from Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - Unexpected Results.

The Crown In The Mikveh

י״ז באלול תש"ע
Belz 19

I didn't sleep at all last night. I finally was able to fall asleep and get a few hours of rest after sunrise this morning. Then, I dreamt.

I was in a space station like chamber in outer space. With me there were two men. One was my friend. The other was like an evil wizard (who reminds me now of the wicked witch in The Wizard of Oz, only a male in this case). The evil wizard had brought my friend and I to the space station to steal the crown that only I could reach (just like the wicked witch wanted to steal the ruby slippers Dorothy wore in The Wizard of Oz).

The evil wizard thought I was gullible like Dorothy and would just give the crown over to him as easily as Dorothy wanted to give over her ruby slippers to the wicked witch when challenged for it, so he had brought my friend and I there so that I could climb up the tower ladder that went up from the space station to bring down the crown that rested at the utmost top of it. I let him think I was gullible like Dorothy so he wouldn't interfere with my climb or hurt my friend as I climbed. But, I had no intention of giving over my crown to him.

He wanted the crown so that he could rule the world with it's powers. It's my crown, and I'm going to use it's powers to enable myself to do my craftwork in peace. I'm like the evil witch who doesn't want to be bothered and to keep from being disturbed is going to buy a strong deadbolt for my door and a welcome mat that reads "GO AWAY."

Anyway, as I was standing there in the space station chamber with my friend and this evil wizard, in my dreaming mind, even though there was no obvious symbolism to suggest it, I knew that this space station and the ladder with the crown on the top of it were in a mikveh. I'm not sure how the clear association came to exist (as I've only been to a mikveh once in my life), but there it was.

Interjected here in the dream, between the mikveh association and beginning of my climb up the tower ladder, I encountered the space station dining room filled with diners, some cookies, a big dog running loose and some stairs. I took some cookies from the dining room (but never ate them) and avoided the big dog by taking a twisting winding chaotic path on the stairs between various floors of the space station. Then, I climbed the tower ladder and retrieved my crown, claiming it as my own as I touched it for the first time at the top of the tower ladder that only I could climb. The claim reverberated down and the evil wizard knew now that I'm not Dorothy and he was not in Kansas. I was crowned, and he can't have my crown or now hurt my friend now that I am wearing the crown.

Suddenly, I was in my earth bedroom (as it appeared when I was a teenager) with some girlfriends. There was a terrible tornado directly overhead (the evil wizard must be having a fit, I thought). My girlfriends wanted me to get down on the floor so that I wouldn't get drawn up into the winds of the tornado, but I wasn't afraid. I had to get my earrings off the dresser top, so I stood up and got them. They thought I was crazy. But, I knew the winds of the tornado couldn't touch me, and I really wanted to wear my pretty witchy earrings, even within the midst of a tornado (witches are fearless like that, you know). So, I got them and put them on, then got back down on the floor along with my girlfriends.

I woke up, having had only a few hours of sleep this morning.

In Living Magic

ט״ז באלול תש"ע
Belz 17

Last night, following creating CRYSTAL VISIONS Scrying and Divination Incense under the Full Moon (ב) during the planetary hour of Jupiter (ת), I dreamt.



After returning home from checking on another woman's well being, I was in my house (which was also my place of business) sweeping my room (like witches do). My eye was caught by a movement of light and dark. I looked up toward the window. Even though bright natural sunlight filled the room inside, between the cracked open curtains at the window, I saw that it was completely jet black outside. It was so black outside there was a total absence of light, like reverse light - thick, opaque, impenetrable from the outside. It wasn't frightening at all. In fact, I felt completely protected inside by it - it surrounded my room, my light inside the room and me as I swept and went about my business in peace.



I woke up.

As the photo demonstrated light-capture through the craft item and my dream further revealed it's connection to reality, it's clear that my handmade ritual incenses and other witchcrafts are not just crafty creations but are truly magical tools in communication with a unified multiverse.

The Mitzvah Of The Twisted Cord

י״א באלול תש"ע
Belz 13

Commentary on Ki Teitzei from Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - The Mitzvah of the Twisted Cord.

This Kiss

י׳ באלול תש"ע
Belz 12

Last night, I dreamt.

I was on a school bus sitting alone, near the middle but toward the front of the bus as well, in a seat on the right side of the aisle. Several others were on the bus as well, the females in the front of the bus and the males in the back.

One of the guys came forward and sat down beside me in my seat. It seems we knew each other from some time in the past, from when exactly I'm not sure, but I knew it was true. We were beshert. After a few words together, we chastely kissed, sealing the fact that we were destined. Then, he moved back with the guys at the back of the bus.

After getting off the bus, I was sitting beside him at one of the many long banquet tables in a banquet hall. He received his PhD certificate at the ceremony being held there.

The most interesting part about this dream however, was that as I was waking up, I could still feel my soul "settling down" into the weightedness of my body. As my soul "sat down upon the base" of my body, as the two elements interfaced and came together, a multitude of brilliant sparks flew out from between them as the connection became "locked and bound."

EarthLight Originals Open For Business

י׳ באלול תש"ע
Belz 12

EarthLight Originals is officially open for business now. Yay!

Check us out!

Raven's Choice

ז' באלול תש"ע
Belz 9

Last night, following my rune divination, I dreamt.

Among my many dreams, Raven - not just a black bird in form - but specifically, Raven appeared to me in my dream. Raven identified Itself specifically in my dream as Raven. Totemic Raven activates magical energy, linking Will and Intention to make manifest great life changes and deep healing.

Raven is a shaman, teacher of mysteries, guide, creator, protector, savior and a totem of deep joy. One does not choose a totem. The totem choose the person.

Raven has chosen me.

Related entries:
Wyrd Gift of the Universe
Bechirah Chafshit - Free Will
Dangerous Mind - Choice

Wyrd Gift From The Universe

ז' באלול תש"ע
Belz 9

Last night early in the wee morning hours, I drew a rune to discern the energy pattern at work in the Universe as it relates to me at this point in time. I drew Perthro, the wyrd rune whose most esoteric meaning still remains a mystery to scholars. As it pertains to divination, Perthro deals with things hidden coming to light, esoteric secrets becoming disclosed, new opportunity, retrieval of things thought lost for good, occult abilities and unexpected surprises and gains. Perthro also means vessel, the female practice of witchcraft and to dance.

So, I put the "unexpected gain" to the test and did something totally out of character for me - I bought a single lottery ticket (I never buy lottery tickets) and won a small amount (less than $20). With my winnings, I bought this handmade rune cup crafted with Perthro in gold on it. Gold runes adorn both the bottom and top of the brown leatherette cup. Opposite Perthro, the other side of the cup is adorned with gold Bind Runes for divination and spiritual growth.

Perthro brings blessing to this period of unemployment while I look for work as I take advantage of the opportunity to develop WITCHCRAFTS and EarthLight Originals - my etsy shoppe and the shoppe my mother and I just launched (which will be stocked with our first few items by the end of this week).

Bechirah Chafshit - Free Will

ו' באלול תש"ע
Belz 8

Last night I dreamt.

There was a pack of vampires, each one hunting and eating the flesh of his or her assigned victim. One after another, each vampire succeeded in it's task, and having done so, it would return to the vampire den. Satiated, the group of vampires lounged in their den discussing together their "excellent meals" of human flesh. As each one discussed his or her "meal", each victim effigy from among the effigies of all assigned victims (which had been hung from the center point of the den's ceiling like a bunch of bananas) fell lifeless to the floor.

I was an assigned victim. It was night and I was being hunted by a vampiress. I sought refuge in my locked car. The vampiress couldn't get to me, so the others watching remotely from the den called to her to break the window glass.

Trying to break into the car but not breaking the glass, suddenly the vampiress stopped trying and backed off. I was now the vampiress watching me through the opposite side of the car's window. She just wasn't going to do this. She wasn't going to kill me and eat my human flesh as she had been designed to do. It was against the nature of a vampire to allow me to live, but she had a choice. Even vampires have a choice - and she chose not to kill me or eat my flesh. She decided it and let me go.

As the choice was complete, a flowing wall of black lava-like darkness came into view and engulfed the vampiress, returning her to her source, leaving me alive and not a victim.

I woke up.

Related entry - Dangerous Mind

Dangerous Mind

ד' באלול תש"ע
Belz 6

Commentary on Shoftim from Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - Dangerous Mind.

2010 Perseids Meteor Light Show

א' באלול תש"ע
Belz 3

Through the night of August 12 (this Thursday) and the morning of August 13 (this Friday) the Perseids meteor shower peaks, producing up to 60 meteors per hour. Look to the northeast after midnight and you may see a spectacular light show!

The Perseids meteor shower is visible to the naked eye annually in late summer from roughly July 23 through August 22, depending on weather conditions and your location on the earth. The source of the meteor shower is debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle. As the earth passes through the comet's debris cloud, earth is treated to multitude of falling stars traveling at 71 kilometers per second. Though the lights are bright, each falling star is typically no bigger than a grain of sand.

This year, the slender waxing crescent moon sets early in the evening, leaving the sky deeply dark for good visibility in clear weather. The wee hours before dawn is the best time to see persistent trains from the falling stars.

EarthLight Originals

כ"ח באב תש"ע
Lughnasadh 29

My mother and I are going into business together selling handcrafted original recipe ecofriendly natural perfumes, lotions, salves, and other personal care and alternative medicinal products (both my biochemistry degree and professional nursing experience will come in handy here to provide scientific support for any herbal remedies we may offer). We've agreed on a name for our joint business venture - EarthLight Originals.

We've ordered some supplies with which to handcraft small samples of our first two products (including a double boiler dedicated to our shoppe work) and established our etsy and email addresses. This week, in between sending out resumes, I'll be working on creating an artsy banner for our new joint shoppe. Mom will create package product labels from the banner we choose to go with.

We've repurposed a cute antique cabinet in the dining room to hold our initial supplies. We're both really excited about doing this. It's fun work! Everything we make with be handcrafted with love.

The Camps Beyond The Fence

כ"ח באב תש"ע
Lughnasadh 29

Last night I dreamt a complex dream in three parts.

First, a small group of men were fixing a train track. One man standing on the track leaned over and made the final repair to the track, then indicated to another man to wait to turn on the electricity which powered the track until he himself got off the metal of the track and out of the way. He didn't want to be electrocuted when the juice moved through. The man on the track moved away from it, and the others turned on the power. A fast moving train came into view, slowed it's speed as it approached, and rolled with weight over the place where the track had been repaired. The repair held. The train continued to slow and then stopped, it's front engine car coming to a rest right in front of me. [Never before in a dream, has a train ever stopped benignly in front of me. Usually, I'm trying to avoid being run over or smashed by one, but in this dream, the train stopped smoothly at my feet.] Something was ready now.

Second, a really odd dream inclusion - there was a ship constructed of a blend of things I had made which included snake essence (see here and here). The snake was a dangerous ingredient which kept growing, but I cut the two ends of it as they would poke out windows of the ship like growing hairs, keeping the whole blend in perfect balance.

Third, suddenly, I was standing on the sidewalk outside (where I am currently living) with someone I had been paired with. We were to go on a very dangerous journey to someplace few knew about and from which few had ever returned alive. It was another test. Most thought we would be killed during this test, but without a doubt I knew we wouldn't be. This place to where we were to journey and return (proving our survival to those sending us) lay beyond the hedgerow fence and the plain fence at the edge of the property of my home. This place had a name (see below) and it was located south of our position. We were sent and told not to stop until we got there.

At some point in the distant past I had built a hidden protective nest-like hiding place along the inner side of the plain fence on the south property border near where it joined with the hedgerow fence on the west border of the property. No one knew about the hidden nest-like structure I had built there - except my companion. My companion motioned me to follow him into this protective nest for the night so that we could start our journey refreshed in the morning. I did. My companion thought we were disobeying the order of those who sent us for stopping to rest for the night in my hidden nest. I thought so too at first (but by the time I woke up and wrote of it, I understand it differently* now).

The place we were journeying to had a name in my mind - it's name was ננשׂון - I visually saw these letters of the name in my dreaming mind. It was pronounced something like Nĭnasōn. The "place" we had been sent toward consisted of a group of three distinct camps beyond the fence. The leader of the first camp we would journey to might kill us if he knew my companion and I were paired - my companion told me - so my companion asked me to not to tell the leader of our relationship, but to let him think we were just traveling together - and though he didn't say it - he meant for me to tell the leader that we were like brother and sister, not companions. If the leader of that place knew we were paired companions, it might stir up trouble for us.

I woke up, reminded of Abraham and Sarah's and Isaac and Rebecca's journeys to Gerar. Gerar (meaning "dragging down, grinding circularly") begins with the magical letter gimel which has a gematria of three - like the three camps which together, in my mind, are a place contrarily called ננשׂון. The shoresh of this place-name is נשׂא with a שׂ, meaning "raising, lifting, appointing, sustaining and leader."

Importantly, the place in my mind has no power to stir up trouble for us. It's name is ננשׂון and not גְּרָר. See then that in this place, we are not dragged down. On the contrary, we are raised up to be leaders.

Note *We were never meant to stop in גְּרָר, and we stopped when we arrived there, in ננשׂון.

The Most Magnificent Dance In The Sea

כ"ו באב תש"ע
Lughnasadh 27

Commentary on Re'eh from Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - The Most Magnificent Dance In The Sea.

The Art Of Magic

כ"ד באב תש"ע
Lughnasadh 25

Tonight I drew the twenty-third rune for my personal runerow - Kenaz, the k-rune, the torch. Kenaz is the force of controlled fire, occult female secrets, esoteric knowledge, regeneration through death or sacrifice, the ability and will to create, the ability and will to control energy and the ability and will to master the technical aspects and artistry of magic.

The Universe is so in tune with what happens in my life. Importantly, this directly speaks to the magical operation I performed earlier today. So mote it be, אמן.



Runerow entries:

Runes 1-3: Transmission of a Sacred Secret
Rune 4: The Wholiness Code
Rune 5: Mysteries of the Staircase
Rune 6: The Ship of Safe Passage
Rune 7: The Ætheling
Rune 8: Communication
Rune 9: The Nature Of My Work
Runes 10-11: Wyrd Shema
Rune 12: The View From My Room
Rune 13: Thurisaz On The Falling Man
Rune 14: Power To Do It
Rune 15: Wyrd Preparation
Rune 16: Mother Of Manifest Blessing
Rune 17: By Force Of Destiny
Rune 18: The Othala Force
Rune 19: Secrets Of The Name
Rune 20: Vardlokkur
Rune 21: Alchemy Of The Word
Rune 22: The Binding Power Of Blæd, Blyss And Byrg Geniht

An Order To Live

כ׳ באב תש"ע
Lughnasadh 21

Commentary on Eikev from Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - An Order To Live.

Seeing Through The Darkness, An Otherworld Journey

כ׳ באב תש"ע
Lughnasadh 21

Last night, I dreamt.

I was on a snowmobile-like vehicle with others who were going on a dangerous adventure to each meet our Guardian Angel. Only the worthy would be able to safely return. The unworthy would remain stuck in the Otherworld.

To go to the Place of the Guardian Angels, we were going to slide free-fall together in our snowmobile-like vehicle down from the top of the snowy mountain we were on and crash into the Great Unknown Dark Sea at the bottom of the snowy mountain. This Great Unknown Dark Sea interfaced with and joined the snowy mountain we were on with a Great Dark Mountain on the horizon (which I couldn't see at this point).

Naturally and complainingly, I thought "I am just too old to crash down this snowy mountain into the sea. I could break a bone or something. I'd rather not do this." But, I didn't have a choice now because we were all already on the snowmobile-like vehicle and on our way. So, since it was inevitable that I had to do this now and couldn't not do it, I thought "I hope these are nice angels." The guide in the group on the snowmobile-like vehicle said to me "no, Ma'am, they are not." "Oh, that's just Great," I naturally and complainingly thought, "I'm going to meet not-nice angels in a Place from which I may or may not return. Just Great." I wasn't fearful at all, but I did have to pee. I was going to have to wait until we got back now.

Our vehicle sped down and crashed into the Great Unknown Dark Sea. After recovering from the disorientation of the crash, I reoriented myself and found myself on the Seabed under the Great Unknown Dark Sea. It was dark and shadowy for sure, but despite that, I could still see forms of the things there. I could see through the Darkness. The vehicle I arrived in was crashed around me. The only other person who remained standing in the vehicle with me was another young woman (young, like I was in this Place), except that she was made of the same Darkness as the Place we were in.

I looked up ahead at the Great Dark Mountain on the horizon opposite the snowy mountain from which we had come. It ran the entire length of the horizon like a black shadowy silhouette. Its dark ragged top reminded me of the surface of bloodroot roots (like the specimen I have included in my Snake Oil).

I looked forward and to my left, toward a Great Staircase which led from the Underworld to the World of the Living. The entrance to the Great Staircase was guarded by two forms which reminded me of Anubis, only they were whitish-like in comparison to the Darkness of the Place and even though they too were dark of form. One Anubis-like guardian angel-creature stood at each side of the Great Staircase with its arms folded across its chest - they stood like Osiride Pillars. The Great Staircase had a handrail running down and up the center of it, dividing the Great Staircase into one side for going up and one side for going down. I wondered if these staircase guardians would let us onto the Great Staircase leading back up into the Land of the Living.

I said to the dark young woman with me still inside the crashed vehicle, "if we are going to make it out of here, we are going to have to go together." We joined hands.

Holding hands, we got out of the relative safety of the crashed vehicle together and stepped into the shadowy Darkness of the Great Sea. As we were walking together toward the entrance of the Great Staircase and toward the Guardians, my spirit friend suddenly pulled me aside, toward the area left of the Great Staircase, and toward the area hidden behind the Great Staircase toward the bathrooms. We told the Guardians we were going to go to the bathroom first, before coming before them to ask permission to enter the Great Staircase. So, they didn't stop us from going behind the Great Staircase to where the bathrooms were - to go to the bathroom there (which like eating faery food in the Otherworld, would prevent us from leaving).

But, we were trying to trick them, I knew it. Even though we did truly have to urinate, we were not going to the bathroom in that Place. Instead, we were going to sneak up onto the Great Staircase from behind without asking the Guardians for permission. We circled around looking around ...

The Guardians then got an inkling of our plan and started to move toward us (now standing under the right side of the Great Staircase). "Uh-oh!" I thought. My spirit friend exclaimed, "oh! we have to go back to the bathroom and wash our hands now," trying to trick the Guardians once again, and as if her words would ward off the Guardians in their approach toward us to investigate just exactly what we little she-devils were up to. "There's pee here!" she exclaimed and pointed toward the floor for the Guardians to see, although I didn't see any there at all. "There's pee!" she exclaimed, "we have to go back to the bathroom now and wash our hands first." The Guardians weren't fooled by her exclamations that we were going to go back to the bathroom to wash our hands first. They knew we weren't really going to go to the bathroom there. We little upstarts were trying to sneak onto the Great Staircase leading back into the Land of the Living, they knew it. The Guardians kept coming toward us. My spirit friend's exclamations then became like a magic command drawing me to awaken, "Pee! Pee! Pee!"

I woke up. Of course, I had to go to the bathroom. And I went to the bathroom, here in the Land of the Living. My body and my personal Guardian Angel together had commanded me to return to the Land of the Living.

I returned.

Such a funny journey into the Otherworld, but nevertheless, I returned to my body with my Guardian Angel joined in tow.

Another interesting link to my herbal magic - in addition to the resemblance of the top of the Great Dark Mountain to the bloodroot in my Snake Oil (I have my own bottle too), last night before going to bed, I had ordered some certified organic earth kosher Calamus Root to try it out as an antifatigue and overall health medicine (as the Cree use it). Calamus Root is found in the recipe sourced in Exodus for the Abramelin operation which "facilitates contacting one's Guardian Angel." Wow, potent stuff - just placing the order for it worked magic!

Bloodroot and Calamus Root - I think I now have some "totem" roots!

Updating Resume With New Stats

י"ז באב תש"ע
Lughnasadh 18

I'm updating my resume as I often do to include and track my professional accomplishments. My full updated resume can be found here.

This information was added to it to keep my resume current.

Added newest Turnaround Accomplishments with current employer:

1. Drove percentage of high-paying Extensive Services + Rehab Medicare-A RUG levels from 38.7% to 71.1% (an extraordinary increase of 83%) during the first full quarter of my employment (Q2 2010) as MDSC Medicare Specialist in comparison to the first full quarter (Q4 2009) prior to my employment, with proof documentation obtained and in place to validate the increase as real and ethical and to support reimbursement levels.

2. Drove total Medicare-A reimbursements for my facility up 40.2% during the first full quarter of my employment (Q2 2010) in comparison to the first full quarter prior to my employment (Q4 2009).

3. Developed an automated nursing care plan templates library for over 106 acute medical conditions.

Added membership in a professional organization:

1. American Association of Nurse Assessment Coordinators (AANAC).

Added professional nursing CEUs and most recent MDS 3.0/RAI training:

1. Scheduled to attend in August "Navigating the Perfect Storm: Strategies for RUGS IV" offered through AANAC on developing Medicare reimbursement strategies under RUGS IV.

2. Currently attending 9-Session Training Series "MDS 3.0 - Your Path To Successful Implementation" offered through Life Services Network (1.5 CEU each session).

3. Attended 3-day MDS 3.0 RAC-CT certification training through AANAC (22.5 CEU).

The Goddess Tree

י"ג באב תש"ע
Lughnasadh 14

Commentary on Vaetchanan from Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - The Goddess Tree.

Rebuilding Reality

י״א באב תש"ע
Lughnasadh 12

I had an awesome dream last night.

I was observing a highly secret experiment which had been conducted by two experimental physicists - the time seemed to be in the 1970's. The experiment involved discovering and "drilling down" into the very most basic structure of reality, into what "existed" before spacetime began.

There were two towers side by side which, when turned on, were like perpetual motion high-energy machines which "perpetually moved" spacetime back upon itself. One of the two physicists turned on the towers. The one on the left (as I faced them) worked as it was supposed to - standing immovable and strong as it moved spacetime perpetually. The one on the right spun seemingly out of control and started to collapse and crash spacetime. As it collapsed spacetime, I "saw" all of human history and existence start to crumble and crash - all of existence and history was combined and represented in the form of a collapsing skyscraper - I even saw people fall off the skyscraper into a spiraling nothingness - one person was a fireman, one was a policeman. I didn't fall, but watched it as a pure objective disembodied all-encompassing observer.

The information came into my mind then that the second experimental physicist (of the team of two scientists) which I had not seen earlier had died before completing his work - this is part of the reason the experiment had gone haywire. His name was Johnny. I saw Johnny - he was a young man in his late twenties or early thirties perhaps - and he had longish ponytail. He had been shot and murdered as a customer during the robbery (or terrorist attack) on a retail pharmacy store. I had the feeling this had not occurred in the USA, but abroad in Europe somewhere (Johnny seemed to be an American who was temporarily in Europe at the time of his murder). At this point, I felt I was actually channeling Johnny's spirit, who was "telling me his story" and leading me on into the next part of the dream.

Suddenly, everything disappeared and there was nothing. I was purely observing from a "place" before spacetime began - back beyond and before reality was created. All of reality had crashed into nothing. There was nothing - not even me. There was only my observance of nothing and the feeling of not being alone there (yet being simultaneously all there was) that "existed."

Suddenly (and these words are insufficient), there was a bluish grey essence consisting of two places in the wholeness interacting and coming together in a new way - and fixing itself. The thought accompanying this perception was that reality was being recreated. Reality had crashed beyond its beginning and was now fixing itself at the level of its essence. The bluish grey perception also reminded me of the "virtual innards" of a computer. It evoked a quiet profoundness and beauty "from me" as I observed - I also realized that I was participating in the thing I was observing - I was the essence I observed even as I observed it working.

I woke up.

Interestingly, yesterday evening before I had this dream, my computer had crashed after I had turned it on after coming home from work - but just after the screen turned blue and the "crash" message came on - the computer went into an automatic algorithm and fixed itself! It's fine today.

The computer systems at work crashed at work today also, and were down for at least two hours. They were still not working when I left at 6:00 PM, but IT had communicated to staff that they were working on restoring the computer systems and they should be back up and fixed by morning.

Creative Ritual For Atheists And Other Rebels

ז' באב תש"ע
Lughnasadh 8

I just had to chuckle at the chutzpah of the ritual when I read this Foxnews article.

U.S. Atheists Reportedly Using Hair Dryers to 'De-Baptize'

American atheists lined up to be "de-baptized" in a ritual using a hair dryer, according to a report Friday on U.S. late-night news program "Nightline."

Leading atheist Edwin Kagin blasted his fellow non-believers with the hair dryer to symbolically dry up the holy water sprinkled on their heads in days past. The styling tool was emblazoned with a label reading "Reason and Truth."

Kagin believes parents are wrong to baptize their children before they are able to make their own choices, even slamming some religious eduction as "child abuse." He said the blast of hot air was a way for adults to undo what their parents had done.

Read full article at link above.

Spirit Of Abundance

ז' באב תש"ע
Lughnasadh 8



This is my beautiful handcrafted 13 inch corn dolly. She'll grace my altar over the upcoming harvest, winter and spring sabbats, beginning with Lughnasadh. Traditionally, corn dollies are ritually enlivened during the first harvest of the season with the Spirit of Abundance. Honored on one's altar over the dark months, she safeguards new abundance for the next harvest.

I have a little witch hat for her too!