Valentine's Day 2010

Lupercalia is an ancient Roman Festival and the origin of Valentines Day. Lupercalia is composed of several holy days linked together beginning on February 13th with Parentalia. During Parentalia, alltemples and businesses were closed and the people honored their Ancestors by visiting their graves with offerings of honey,... wine, oils, and water. Vestal Virgins celebrated Parentalia by paying homage to the first Vestal.

http://www.examiner.com/x-8847-Detroit-Paganism-Examiner~y2010m2d12-Lupercalia?cid=examiner-email

Well, that's where it started. I love Valentine's Day! This is my first marriage and having worked as a nurse in an institution housing only women and primarily employing women, I didn't meet many men and most of them were happily married. I meet my husband on match,com in 2005. So, I've missed out on Valentine's Day until recently. We had an absolutely fabulous Valentine's Day! It lasted 3 days (another advantage to working night shift). We lit red candles (for lust), burned Nag Champa incense, and invited the God Cernunnos into our celebration. (The God of Lust, among other things). Part of my original plan was to put rose petals on the dish with the candles, but I had already used up my stash from last summer... I made dinner. Cornish hens, curried rice, broccoli in cheese sauce, garden salad and for dessert I made chocolate lava cake and brownies. We turned off facebook and spent the evening in quality time. There is nothing better than spending uninterrupted quality time with the person you love! It was wonderful. Hubby bought me pink tulips. I love pink tulips, pink roses, pink carnations... you get the idea!
So now it's back to work and back to the laundry.... would it be presumptuous of me to suggest to Hubby that we join a nudist colony, just so that I don't have to do any more laundry???

The History of Lent

I know for me it seems like my days of Catholicism are long ago and far away, but I always enjoyed the ambiance of the Lenten season. It's a moment to pause and take note of your life. I found this article to be interesting and thought I would share. Enjoy!

The Pagan History of Lent

The word lent comes from the Anglo-Saxon word lencten which means spring, which was derived from the Anglo-Saxon word lenctentid (pronounced LENG-ten-teed), which means the time of lengthening and flowering. The entire spring season was called Lenctentid. The ancient Anglo-Saxons (and other pagans) celebrated the return of spring with rioteous fertility festivals commemorating their goddess of fertility and of springtime, Eastre. In fact, the word Easter is derived from the Scandinavian Ostara and the Teutonic Ostern or Eastre, both pagan goddesses. The complete month of April was called Eostur-monath with the entire month was dedicated to Eostre. The pagan religion taught that Eostre was one responsible for changing a bird into a rabbit, this then is how the rabbit became an Easter symbol. Rabbits symbolize the fertility of springtime. It should be noted that the rabbit's capacity of abundant production of young is especially great at this time of year. I should also tell you that most ancient races, including the Anglo-Saxons, included spring festivals to celebrate the rebirth life, using the Egg was a symbol of fertility, life and re-birth. This is old Latin proverb catches this idea -- Omne vivum ex ovo. This means "all life comes from an egg".

So, how did such pagan things as Lent and Easter (I am not referring to the blessed Resurrection of Jesus Christ) come into the church? Alexander Hislop gives us the answer -- "To conciliate the Pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome, pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and Pagan festivals amalgamated, and, by a complicated but skillful adjustment of the calendar, it was found no difficult matter, in general, to get Paganism and Christianity—now far sunk in idolatry—in this as in so many other things, to shake hands" (The Two Babylons).

Blessings of the coming Spring!

Greetings!

My name is Deb, my husband is Rick we follow a Pre-Christian Spiritual path, generally known as Pagan or Wiccan. We are Witches. Our Spiritual beliefs center around respect and protection of the Earth. We believe in a higher power, whatever you may call Her/Him. We believe in "harm none" and we understand that what you send out comes back to you in triplicate.

We own The Mystik Dove Shop in McGaheysville, Va. We sell New Age, and Spiritual items as well as Gifts, and Adult Novelties. We are situated in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley. We sit at the foot of Massanutten Mountain and Massanutten Resort, with fabulous views of the mountains all around us!

I was raised in South Jersey and moved to Virginia in 1998. The cost of living in NJ was getting out of hand and I was ready for a change of pace. This was the logical place to settle, since I'd been vacationing here for nearly 10 years already. I couldn't think of any where else I'd rather be!

Rick was raised in the Shenandoah Valley, but I'll have to get him to tell you his story sometime!

We have a black cat named Cody. Cody is what I call a "black cat with attitude". Very independent and definitely makes up his own mind! We also have one dog, a collie/german shepard mix named Charlie. Charlie is 12 yrs old, Cody is 5 yrs old. We also keep goldfish in our rain barrel (they make great fertilizer for my potted plants!)!

We are avid gardeners (mostly me). We appreciate fresh, home grown fruits and vegetables and do our best to keep those on hand before we buy food grown in other countries. We are not vegetarians, but maybe we could be considered part-time vegetarians... Meat is more of a necessity than a choice. I'm one of those people who can gain weight looking at bread, and I love bread! I need to eat more protein and the easiest way for me to do that is to eat meat. We don't eat a lot of beef though, mostly chicken and fish. We try to avoid "instant" foods, which is fun for me because I love to cook!

We are environmentalists and we live a "Green" lifestyle everyday. Not the Green-living fad, but a real Green lifestyle. We love the earth and want to do our part to keep it healthy. It needs to support us for a long time yet!

Imbolc 2010

It snowed this weekend and we're expecting more... Last week it was 55 degrees. I saw the little green shoots of the crocus' stating to come up under the leaves in the back garden.
Today is February 1. It is the eve of Imbolc. Imbolc is probably my favorite holiday. I've been celebrating Groundhog's Day for as long as I can remember. The very first signs of spring are starting. The birds are coming back, the crocus' are starting to come up and the seed catalogs are starting to come in the mail. What could possibly give a person more hope for warm weather than a seed catalog?
To celebrate Imbolc today we had a big dinner and decorated the house with dried flowers and red & white ribbons. The table was set with red napkins and white place mats. For dinner we had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn on the cob, broccoli mix, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie.
We set up our Spirit Plate as our center piece. I filled the goblet with lavender and a tea light candle. I used a red and white napkin on the plate and a bunch of lavender on the plate. We set up Brigid's Bed after dinner and asked her to protect us and bring prosperity to our home. We set Brigid in her bed on the plate with the lavender and goblet. We lit candles in the room and the (electric) candle in the widow. The candles will stay lit through the night in honor of Brigid.
Alright, I have to admit that the big dinner for Imbolc was started out of necessity. Every year at Thanksgiving my Dad waits until the last minute to tell me he bought a turkey. Of course by that time I've already gotten one. So we started making it at Imbolc or in my Dad's world, Groundhog's Day. And of course, Dad comes dinner! It's also the last chance to use the kitchen before the weather starts to warm up. And if it stays cold for a while, we've got soup meat too.
Now we need to get to bed. We need to get up at 7:15 to watch Punxatawney Phil come out of his house. We're hoping for a quick end to all this cold weather!