Yule Lads, Julbock, and Liquer recipes

So, a few weeks ago, I decided that we were going to have a damn good Yule, dammit.  And so far, it’s been pretty good.  I decided to make gifts, which has consisted of making liquers and baking goodies.  I also made my mom and sister some scrying incense and scrying candles. THE LIQUERS I…

Introduction to Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight, Stand like Druids of old, with voices sad and prophetic, Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms. Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring…

Yule and mistletoe

So, yeah.  We’re making a go of this incense thing.  I’ve been making incense for the sabbats anyways, and one of my favorite parts is gathering the ingredients.  For Samhain, we gathered fresh cypress needles from a cemetery.  They were LOVELY.  They really made the incense pop. For Yule, we began scanning the landscape for…

Ravenson Reagents- Handcrafted incense

Hi guys!  Just wanted to let you know that I’ll be doing a lot of work on my other blog, RavensonReagents.wordpress.com.  Bear and I are going to be making handcrafted incense, eventually for sale.  We’re beginning with the great kyphi experiment of 2012/2013.  (The ingredients are expensive, so it will take us a while to…

Tarot reading, polyamory, and strong boundaries

Sooo..  I had completely given up on finding our third.  We weren’t even looking any more, even though that seems to be a natural state for us.  It’s not that Bear and I aren’t enough for each other, it’s more that we have a lot of extra love, and the idea of bringing a third…

Samhain, Rememberance, Yule presents, and NaNoWriMo

Sorry I’ve been quiet.  The death of my ex hit me pretty hard, and I haven’t done a lot of anything, including NaNoWriMo.  I’m at roughly 1900 words, and it’s day 7.  I need to decide to either catch up or give up.  I’m not going to be hard on myself either way, I’m just…

That first love

There’s a person out there who will always have a piece of my heart. We weren’t meant to be together, and the love faded in time, as happens when that’s the case. But he has always been someone that is incredibly special to me. You see, we grew up together. We did stupid teenager stuff…

Samhain Altar

This is it! The only thing we have left to add is letters. I’m going to write a letter to my dad, and Bear and J might write letters to their loved ones as well. I’ll place them on the altar (behind everything), and then we’ll burn them on Samhain. The incense also turned out…

Characterization and multiple personality disorder

I had a revelation today that shouldn’t have been a revelation. All of my characters are really part of my own personality. I don’t know why that didn’t occur to me before. I mean, honestly.. Don’t ALL writers do that? Don’t we all take part of our consciousness and spill it out into a page…

Gathering ingredients for Samhain incense

My husband is lovely.  Simply lovely.  He truly is the best thing in my life.  And when I asked him yesterday if he would like to go to the cemetery with me to gather some ingredients for incense, he didn’t hesitate.  He was even a bit excited for another one of my cemetery adventures. He…

Gathering ingredients for Samhain incense

My husband is lovely.  Simply lovely.  He truly is the best thing in my life.  And when I asked him yesterday if he would like to go to the cemetery with me to gather some ingredients for incense, he didn’t hesitate.  He was even a bit excited for another one of my cemetery adventures. He…

Pain and Tiwaz

Good news: I found my runes while looking through my old herb collection! Bad news:  All of my herbs are waaaayyy too old and stale to use for anything.  They all smell like dust. Good news: I found a great supplier who sells the herbs I need cheap on Ebay! Bad news: I spent my…

Vine- Character sketch

VINE  (Capricorn) Smells like: Rosewood Patron deity:  It’s a surprise! Color: Green, midnight blue, black Music: World fusion Food: Candy Animal: Toad Number: 8 Tree: Birch Style: Colorful, crafty/punk, leather Domme when she dresses up Eye Color: Grey blue → midnight blue Hair Color: Blue → purple → iridescent black Skin Color: Pale Car: 1995…

Other animal omens

I’ve also had quite a few other critters show up in my life. First, the ant bite.  (I’m thinking about tattooing a small, pink dot there on my finger to commemorate the event.)  Ants, to me at least, represent industriousness and hard work.  They’re relentless when they’re pursuing their goal, and organize themselves to get…

Cardinal- bird omens

Yesterday, I was getting dressed, getting ready to start my day.  And as I was doing so, there was a beautiful, bright red cardinal right outside the window next to my pillow.  I usually take bird sightings seriously, especially when they’re so blatant.  He (only the males are that bright) stayed for a few minutes,…

Inanna (video)

For Trixie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_sroZKqliA

Down and Dirty Marketing for Authors (notes)

This was absolutely the most helpful panel I attended at the entire con. Again, I was trying to catch a little of EVERYTHING, and most of these notes are what I gleaned that would be applicable to my own writing and marketing style. ******************** Panelists: Gail Z Martin, Kiernan Kelly, Cynarra Tregarth, Sascha Illyvich Think…

Response to a daily writing prompt- Bells

This daily writing prompt was added as part of the TWWS group on Live Journal.  This was my response.  (To be fair, it took me about 16 minutes.) **************************** Write for ten minutes on the topic: bells.   Trixie rose unsteadily to her feet. She was barefoot, naked, vulnerable. She was used to wearing beautiful…

Roadtrip memento idea (a.k.a. Witch Bottle)

I knew that when we took our roadtrip, I would want something from the road where I made my offering.  I had an idea that acorns would be good, one chosen by each of us, and representing each of my three main protagonists. However, I had NO idea what that would turn into. As we…

Scouting locations for my novel

I’m a Georgia girl, through and through.  And so when I first began thinking of my story, I didn’t even think twice about where it would be set.  Granted, it’s in a smaller town than I grew up in, kind of out in the middle of nowhere, compared to the busy suburb of Atlanta that…

Priorities.

It’s time to prioritize things.  I have a ton of things going on, and some things are going to have to be sacrificed to make time for the things that really, REALLY count.  Here’s my list. 1. Bear.  This includes keeping us healthy, so we can be together for a long, long time. 2. The…

Writing critique group- pt. 2

I just sent my short story along to the woman I met at Dragon*Con.  And now the worrying begins.  *shudder* In other writing news, I’ve been using this spreadsheet to keep track of my writing for the year.  I love it!  It has a lot of the features that I love about the NaNoWriMo counter,…

The mythical, fabled ‘writing group’

This is a magical, fantastical thing that I’ve been searching for for quite some time.  And in the ‘Short and Not So Sweet Stories’ panel, Eugie Foster and several other panelists kept stressing the need to find a good critique group. I really have tried.  I looked online, and mostly found writing communities where you…

My Hero (notes)

I attended a very similar panel last year, but it’s funny how some of the information is exactly the same, and some panelists will have completely different takes on the same topic. Panelists were: –Lynn Abbey–AJ Hartley–Gary Kim Hayes–Diana Peterfreund–Janny Wurts Notes: -Closed-Circle.net-Protagonist is necessary, hero is optional.-Hero tries to do the right thing, usually…

Vampires, Demons, and Werewolves–Oh My! (notes)

This was more an exploration of paranormal fiction and urban fantasy.  It wasn’t such an instructional panel, but I always take things away.  So the notes will be short. Panelists:–Lucienne Diver–Debra Dixon–Nancy Knight–Jana Oliver–Samantha Sommersby–Jennifer St. Giles–Jeanne C. Stein Notes: –Bellbridge Books (team tattoo?)-Jana Oliver- writes about Atlanta demons -How do you differentiate yourself in…

Hourly Writing Seminar: Talk to Me (notes)

The hourly writing seminars are always a good bet at D*Con, but this was the only one that I could afford to attend.  I’ve been to a lot more previously, but at $10 each, they can add up quickly.  Still worth every penny: Please keep in mind that my notes are all over the place….

Dragon*Con Debriefing

Favorite things:  I married my Bear.  The video link is here.  I also got to spend time with friends that I only see once/year, saw some amazing writing panels, and got to game with some of our gaming group.  I also possibly found a writing group, or if not, a place to find a writing…

Searching for Trixie

The series of novels I’m working on are very autobiographical.  Or at least, they are autobiographical in that there is a lot of wish fulfillment there for how I would actually like to live my own life. For example, I have a character in my story that is based on what Bear and I would…