You guys have been busy! I am trying my best to catch up with all of you, all of the activities and threads that have been started since I been gone. Wow, I am impressed and a little breathless.
But excitement runs through me, as I am seeing your faces, discovering what journeys your life took, and how much change their has been.
Unlike some, I welcome change, change of season, lifetime, age, it symbolizes the potential for growth, the potential of what can be, if we are all working together, as we are here.
Consider this my way of telling all of you, how happy I am to see you, and how proud I am of every one of you!

Blessed Be!

Claudia

Prayer for the Warrior Soul

The warrior soul, fighting in spirit,
follows a code of wisdim and honor.
Strength is found not in the arms,
not in the knife, the gun or the sword,
but in the mind and soul.
I call upon the warriors of the past,
those who would stand up and fight,
those who would do what is needed,
those who would make sacrifices on behalf of others,
those who would die that others may live.
I call upon them this night,
to give me strength of heart, soul and spirit.

Patti Wigington

Food can be used for many aspects of magick, which includes the use of desserts such as ice cream.
Associated with the Moon, and the element of Water, the magickal energies are related to the specific flavor.

Here is a list of associations:

Blueberry cheesecake: protection
Butter pecan: Money, employment
Cherry vanilla: Love
Chocolate (chip, fudge, ripple, etc.); Money, love
Coffee: conscious mind
Cookies and Cream: money
Macadamia nut: money
Neapolitan: love, health, happiness, wisdom
Peanut butter: money
Peppermint: healing, purification
Pumpkin: healing, money
Praline: money
Strawberry: love
Swiss almond: money, healing
Vanilla: love

For more information on magickal uses of food, check out Scott Cunningham's Book " Wicca in the Kitchen"

Blessed Be!

Tomorrow many pagans and witches will be celebrating Lammas or Lughnasadh. It marks the beginning of the harvest season and has its origin within Celtic and Roman tradition.
Celtic mythology is filled with stories that tell of the symbolic significance of grain. In one, a young boy drinks by accident hazelnuts from the magical cauldron of the Welsh Goddess Cerridwen. He shapeshifts into a hare. She shapeshifts into a greyhound and chases him. He shapeshifts into a grain of wheat, but then Cerridwen, shapeshifts into a black hen. She eats the wheat and gives birth to a boy, who becomes the great bard and poet Talisen. That is how Carridwen is the Goddess of Death, Regeneration, Grain and Poetic Inspiration.

Typical herbs used for magick on this day are:

goldenrod
sunflower
myrtle
rose
wheat
corn,
Irish moss
oat

Considering that this is also the time for Berry Harvest, including Berry Cobbler or similar in the meal of celebration is common.

My family and I will be celebrating together, and our meal as planned will be
Butternut Squash
Herb-Roasted Potatoes
Herb Chicken (for the meat eaters in the family)
Sweet Raspberry Filled Corn Muffins
Banana Bread

Our table is decorated with offering stones and corn dollies that we made in the days prior. I will post a video shortly on how to make these.

Blessed Be!

P.S. For a good resource on holidays of the year in the pagan traditions check out Laurie Cabots Book "Celebrate The Earth"