"I'm going to live and die a hippy."

I have decided. (So that makes it official.)

I looked up the prices for Yoga Instructor classes today.

$2,000 for a 12 month course.

*sigh*

It's only (about) $170 a month savings for a year... so I can enroll in the January class next year and dedicate this full year to going to yoga every day it's offered at my gym and telling the yoga teacher I want to take this class... and yeah... projectedly it's a good plan. Right?

I just need to stick with it.

It doesn't look like $170 is coming out of me this month... but maybe Uncle Sam will be nice to me this year and I can manage to get contacts AND some tuition out of it.

Originally my plan was file my taxes, send in my FASFA... and enroll in college.

The more I think about it... College just isn't for me. I lack the integrity and the patience... and I'm scared as hell. I don't want to go back to college, and I rather like my life right now. I mean... more money is always nice, but being an instructor can supplement my income. (In a legit type of way, not like my petty eBay and Etsy sales.) I'm addicted to having a second job but corporate america is not for me and I refuse to work retail ever again. Ever. Again.

Etsy is sort of like retail, but I'm my own boss and I do what I want basically whenever... so it doesn't count. I don't have a boss of a boss of a boss all telling me five different things and expecting the best out of me when I'm getting paid with rice. I get what I make out of my online stores... and I like that.

But yeah... that's basically it.

O, and I skipped yoga tonight... the irony, right? lol

Blessed Be,
SallyD

Music Wednesday (Music: Swing Tree by Discovery)

Listen. Enjoy.

Thank me later.



Blessed Be,
SallyD

Herb of the Week (Herb: Chamomile)

Chamomile has to be my favorite herb, ever. Evveerr. E -V -ARRRRR! It is used in sachets when you need to sleep, it's got an awesome sweet scent AND it won't make you feel icky like Wormwood. Just... awesome.

Here are some Ideas:
The flowers are edible and quite tasty in salads or made into a refreshing cold or warm beverage.

Relaxing tea: To 1 cup boiling water add 2 tsp. dried flowers. Steep covered for 10 min.

For Bath: Use ½ to 1 cup fresh or dried herb tied in linen bag. Place in tub with hot water let soak for 10 min. then add cold water to the temp. you like. Do not add soap to bath, as it will coat your skin and not allow the Chamomile to penetrate.

Also for colds or when you feel really bad, try the tea while you’re soaking in the bath.

Love... just love this herb.

Here is a good site that tells you about it's history and how the Egyptians used Chamomile to worship the sun.

I made this and I sell it on Etsy. It's what I call a Sleepy Time Sachet. It's got Chamomile and Lavender buds in it, along with crystals. The crystals enable you to microwave it for a few seconds (About 10 or 15 seconds) and then place it somewhere near your pillow before drifting off to a nice slumber.

Blessed Be,
SallyD

Wiccan Word of the Week (WWW: Imbolc aka Brigid or Brigid's Day)

Imbolc is observed on February 2nd. Imbolc is the early spring sabbat which honors the virgin goddess as the young bride of the returning sun god.

Wiki states it as: Imbolc is one of the four principal festivals of the Celtic calendar, celebrated among Gaelic peoples and some other Celtic cultures, either at the beginning of February or at the first local signs of Spring. Most commonly it is celebrated on February 1, which falls halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox in the northern hemisphere. Originally dedicated to the goddess Brigid, in the Christian period it was adopted as St Brigid's Day. In Scotland the festival is also known as Là Fhèill Brìghde, in Ireland as Lá Fhéile Bríde, and in Wales as Gŵyl y Canhwyllau.

I will be celebrating on Feburary 2nd, which is Tuesday after next. I have looked up some rituals to do. I'm rather excited. I have gathered some ideas from Everything Under The Moon and Stephanie Mae, who is a third generation Wicca/Pagan (or Witch? I'm not quite sure what she calls herself on a personal level...)

Stephanie gave a pretty awesome run down on how her family celebrates:
" Imbolc (also known as Imbolg) is a fire purification festival and a time to worship Brigit. The fires of the candles represents the returning warmth of Spring. Imbolg is actually derived from Oimelc, which means 'ewes milk'. One of Brigit's symbol was the ewe. It is a time to spend with fire, your home, sweet food and divination. Below is a general idea of how my family celebrates Imbolg.

-Red, White & Black Candles; Colors sacred to Brigit.
-We give an offering of fresh Blackberries, which are sacred to Brigit.
-During the day we all make a crown of Elder to wear during ritual. The Elder Tree was sacred to Brigit.
-We celebrate the Ewe's milk and the first Spring flowers.
-We all create a poem to Brigit (no one knows what the other wrote), which we burn in the candle flames during ritual.
-We have basil incense, garnet and onyx all around.
-We eat Lemon Vanilla Curd Cake, Irish Truffles and Barm Brack. All with wine of course, my family drinks entirely too much wine. "

And there you have it. :)

Thank you so much Stephanie!!

I will keep you updated on this Sabbat and please leave comments if you have any questions!

Blessed Be,
SallyD

Yoga Kicked My Ass

Wow... I haven't done yoga in... *counts on fingers* Almost four years? Wow, I'm old! I did "Yoga Lite" today... and let me tell you... I'm SOOO glad it wasn't any harder than it was today, because I probably wouldn't have been able to hang. At all. But I'm so glad I went. I really, truely needed to get my ass in gear. I guess you can thank my mother for forcing me into getting another year signed in at the gym. Because I really, really didn't want to spend that $40 a month.... I'd rather spend it on bills or you know... shiny pretty things.

Sunday was pretty good, I guess. Woke up to my Lovey and we ate BLTs and watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding before she had to scurry off to work. I went home and debated on going to the gym and watched some YouTube videos. I decided to go about an hour til my yoga class to do some "light bicycling while reading" At a mindless pace, reading some pages in a book I'm reading... that kind of thing. But noooooo, Santigold came on my ipod and it was like I had a fire inside of me and I peddled until my thighs burned and my ankles ached. I gripped the handle bars like I was peddling for my life and the lady next to me made a "humpf" face and continued her slow peddle. I couldn't even finish the song like that but suddenly all the muscles in my legs felt alive from a deep coma. My thighs kept pushing for more but my feet just couldn't keep up.... nor could my lungs. I heaved, I tried to slow down... eventually I did. I could tell other people were looking at me but I simply didn't care. I think I might have read two pages the entire twenty minutes I was on the bike. Twenty minutes... not bad... I usually do an hour on the bike. I shoot for 10 miles or 45mins. Sometimes I get both... but I'm sure I will have to work up to that. Today I think I got maybe 8 miles because I'm so out of shape.

I decided that I would move to the Elliptical because I refuse to get on a treadmill. They kill my ankles and I feel like everything bounces.... in a very bad way. Well, I get up there. I put all my shit up there and I mount the machine. I tell myself, "Slow pace. This is first day at the gym in years. Slooow pace, Beth. I mean it." After my firm lecture... I lean back and work my thighs until they scream. I manage half a mile before I feel like I'm about to collapse. I dismount and head over to a yoga ball and do crunches and used 5lb weights for some added resistance against my arms. I did stretches, side crunches and a few other variations that had some chick using the same mirror appalled. She kept looking at me like I was punching her kitten. I started to feel uncomfortable because of the audience and I gathered my things and went to the locker room to drop off my stuff before yoga. I refilled my water bottle and waited outside the exercise room until the the yoga people started to arrive. They eventually did and I felt pumped and motivated, but achy and debating about going home instead of partaking of this yoga I've been babbling on and on about all friggin' week. Well, I get in there, use a gym's yoga mat [which is disgusting, I will be purchasing my own because my other one has paint on it and has been officially lost in the last big move] and start doing some yoga stretches to prepare.

Again, I say OUCH! I could tell from the prestrech that I fail. I struggle through the next hour and a half doing warrior pose and reverse warrior and even downward facing dog burned through the back of my legs.

All and all, I got to the gym at 4:20ish and got home a few minutes shy of 7:30. Not bad for my first day if I must say so myself. I'm going to take a shower, warm up some eggrolls and make a small bowl of ice cream... then I'm going to watch some Cake Challenge on Food Network before I promptly pass the fuck out.

Sunday was a good day. Monday will suck at 4am, but I'm sure if I keep this up it won't be so terrible.

O yeah! My new curtains!!!Notice that Sally is making an appearance. :) This also sort of shows my new curtain rod! I love my curtains, they have a fancy print on them. (As shown below)


Yay, that's it for today!

Blessed Be,
SallyD

Video of the Week (Is Wicca Right for you?)

I love this video. It helped me alot, so hopefully it can do the same for you.

++++

Yay, friday! I'm so glad it's friday. So glad.

This week has flown by though... I didn't make it to ONE of my yoga classes. :( Nope... not one.

Today I will get some free time though, so maybe I should atleast brave the gym. But when I think of going to the gym I think of how icky it is and I can't wear my glasses in there because they are lame, so that means I just see blurry shapes and stuff. (I can see up close, but if you are more than two feet away from me I just see colors and shapes) Not being able to see makes me uncomfortable... needless to say. (But I'm saving up for contacts and selling stuff on Ebay and Etsy to help raise money! Check out the link section over there ------>)

So bleh. I don't know. But a N - A - P is definantly in order today. I woke up feeling like DEATH. When I wake up and instantly have the "I'm definantly going to puke" feeling... I know I def didn't get enough sleep. My gf and I were putting up my new curtain rod, (That she bought me, and it was more like she was putting it up and I was watching Jersey Shore... THAT SHOW IS ADDICTING!) Which took forever... we were drilling holes in my wall at 9:30 at night... go us! lol I'm sure my neighbors hate me now.

I've been having crazy dreams lately. I did a little research this morning, I guess Wormwood is a dream agent. It can bring you premonition dreams. I hope my dreams don't come true. Whew, they weird me out just thinking about them. I think some of that strange juju that Wormwood can do to you is still bouncing around in there from when I inhaled it too much the other day.

Now that my room is clean and I have a curtain rod up... maybe I should get curtains? Yes... I should get curtains today. I already picked some out at Lowes. I'm excited. They're blue and have fancy patterns on them. I will post pictures when I get them... and I haven't forgotten about yesterdays blog, I will add pictures accordingly as well. :)


Blessed Be,
SallyD

Cleaning My Room (Smudging, Herb Warnings)

The good Karma bunny must have visited me yesterday after I made my first post.

Suddenly after I hit the "Publish Post" button I had a huge urge to clean my room and put my herbs in the jars I had purchased for them.

Well, actually... it started because I wanted to smudge my room because it's been freaking me out lately. If I'm sleeping by myself, I do the blanket up to my nose and shifty eyes thing you see in cartoons all the time. So, smudging would solve that. It'd at least give me peace at mind.

What is smudging you ask?

Smudging is when you take dried herbs that have been tied neatly together, you light the end of it and blow out the flame like incense. The smoke that comes from the "Smudge Stick" is an aromatic and potent way to get rid of those nasty evils that may be lurking in your home. I will be using White Sage for it is for protection and traditionally it is used when purifying a home.

Alot of people smudge before they move any of their belongings in a new home. Which I had planned on... but since I was working two jobs and have a relationship.... that didn't happen. I was lucky I found an afternoon to shove all my stuff in the house and run off back to work. I literally had to stay at a friends house because I lacked the time to even put my bed together until I got a full day off and had to plan for it.

So, I've been moved into my new apartment for almost 5 months and still have yet to smudge anywhere. The house felt empty when I walked in, but then again I was also so excited to be out of my current living situation and into this shiny new apartment, a blooded ghost probably could have walked up to me and spat in my face and I would've pushed him out of the way to live there.

But anyway, If one is to smudge a dwelling, said dwelling needs to be cleaned (or atleast put in order) because chaos breeds evil. Or, you could think of it as... Your house being in all sorts of array... could you sit there and calmly read a book? (Okay, so maybe you could, but I couldn't. I could barely sleep in my room because of how messy it was) In other words, it's harder to focus when there is clutter about. And, if you are wanting to push out anything bad, you would need to be able to see every inch of free space available.

After cleaning areas you wish to smudge, there are many ways you can do purify your home. The more "ritual" way is to light a bunch of candles or tea lights around the house. One in the central location of the house, and then at each North, South, East, West locations. If you have two levels (like me) you would want to put candles out on each floor like that, or use the central candle where your family gathers the most. (As that would be the "central" area for the family.... the one place everyone gathers on neutral ground.) But have two levels of the NSEW locations. Then, get a large bowl of water that had salt water dissolved in it. Walk around with your smudge stick making sure the smoke of the stick reaching each corner of the house. With water you would sprinkle it in each area while proclaiming the house being yours now and all other entities need to go away now, kthnx. (Okay, so maybe not in those words)

Or, you could take out the candles and water and just smudge for a quick purifying or less powerful negative energy. If it's something more serious (A ghost, a person/visitor that carrys heavy negative weight) you may want to do the complete ritual. There is no need to call a circle or anything like that.

What you could say while sprinkling the water is something like this:
Negative Energy, leave this place.
Negative Energy, you aren't welcome here.
This house is mine. Not yours.
(Repeat 3 times)

It only actually took me about 20mins to hang up all of my coats in my chair and throw away random trash and such... but then I got side tracked by putting my herbs into containers from the plastic bags they were in originally. (So I didn't get the chance to smudge yet)


I have an herb called Wormwood. Some of you might recognize the name, others may not. For those that don't: Wormwood is the herb that is used to make Absinth. Absinth is the liqour that makes you hallucinate and you can quite literally OD on it. Wormwood can also be manipulated into a poison and can make you paralyzed if you use it too often for too long even in the right form.... O and it could kill you.

So, Wormwood is tough shit. (Basically)

I got my hands on some a couple weeks ago. After I had searched everywhere and it's SOOOO expensive, I found somewhere that had it under $12 an ounce and pounced on it. I haven't done anything with it yet though, but I do have plans (in the non-poison form). Well, as I was pouring it into the jar from the bag a big puff of dried Wormwood powder got pushed into my oxygen. It was a slow reaction. I inhaled more than I should've. First, my eyes felt all wobbly. Then, I started choking. Wormwood tastes TERRIBLE, btw. Really, super bitter and reminded me of slugs. (I use to eat bugs as a kid, what?) I instantly stood up and stumbled. Drinking the rest of my drink my throat started to feel better but my eyes were all glossy and I felt really loopy. I felt drunk for the next hour and a half from just inhaling some in powder form. Yeesh. I'm excited to use this stuff for real!!

Moral of the story: Be careful with your herbs.

Blessed Be,
SallyD

FIRSTPOSTFIRSTPOST!!

Hi!

I'm being super cheesy right now!

I've been thinking about reopening a blog for awhile... but you know... you go through the "No one will read it..." and the "What would I write about?" and "I don't have time..." and all those other things I could put in quotations and make you read (or stop reading).

Recently I've really been trying to connect to my religion. Well, not really "trying to connect" more or less "trying to be more active."

I realize that my religion is often very judged and misunderstood... so I'm hoping that maybe this can be a window into understanding and acceptance?

Either way, I'm rambling...

I am a solitary Wiccan. I've been out of the "broom closet" for about 3yrs now. My family is absolutely not supportive of it, as they are hardcore Christians.... but I'm sure that will be another blog entirely.

I frequent a forum and it has really opened my "third eye" and my personal Pandora's box of want.

This blog will be my way of writing down my new experiences and [possibly] having someone else will read this and help motivate me to bring more information to those who wouldn't otherwise have an outlet for such things. Since this is my first blog about such things I want to go ahead and introduce you to myself, then my religion. Because who you are is defined by yourself, not anything that contributes to it. (Such as religion, race, ancestry, friends, etc)

My name is Beth, I live in a small town in North Carolina. I am 5 miles from the Sound and about 30mins from the Ocean. I work in public media. I live on my own and just recently quit my second job so I could have more time for me (and friends).

So, BOOKMARK THIS PAGE ALREADY! :)

And here are some links you should read if you know absolutely nothing about Wicca but would like to know something about it:
A Forum full of info: http://everythingunderthemoon.net/forum
The Rede: http://www.wicca.com/celtic/wicca/rede.htm
The Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicca
Religious Tolerance: http://www.religioustolerance.org/witchcra.htm

Blessed Be,
SallyD