Merry Yule!

Merry Yule to everyone! I have posted up the latest from my Kitchen Witchery class on Yule. We had a very small class, but at this time of year, that's not surprising. We had some yummy treats to eat, and we discussed everything Yule. You can check into the Yule page for the recipes and decorating hints and tips. I had meant to post it before today. Sorry about that. :)

Taken at Dickens of a Christmas at Ohio Village

Until next time..... Merry Yule and Blessed Be!

A way late Samhain post

Wow! I am really late getting Samhain posted up. lol. There has been a lot going on in the past couple of months. But, I know have the Samhain page updated. Just in time, too. My Yule class is tomorrow night. Yikes! Nothing like the last minute, huh? But, the Samhain class was awesome. We had way more people show up. We even had a little one that attended with her mommy, but I guess I'm just not as popular with the wee ones as I used to be, since she fell asleep shortly after I started.

Luckily, everyone else stayed awake. lol. In this class, I made a pumpkin cornbread. It came out great, but I have decided that I am not making anymore cornbreads in my Nuwave oven, they just don't seem to cook completely. The center bottom always comes out just a little under cooked. But, here was my set up:

It was still a great class, despite the slightly under cooked cornbread. I even made sure to grab a gallon of apple cider to share. I just love doing these classes. I excited about tomorrow's class, but I'll get to that in a minute.

The day before Samhain, we had an open circle at the shop. As always, it was wonderful. We had a very large group, and the energy was great. We had several new people join us. Here is a peek at the altar we set up in the grassy area next to the shop:

Afterward, we gathered in the shop to sit around spend a little quality witchy time together. Here's a pic of me and Miss E, sitting and enjoying the company:

Left to right: Miss E and myself

On Samhain, I spent the better part of the day baking cookies and getting ready for the festivities that were planned. I made about 8 dozen Rune cookies (basic sugar cookies with Runes drawn on them):

I used the smallest, round cookie cutter I had, baked them up, and just a bit of glitter gel icing for the Runes. They were a hit. Later in the afternoon, we attended the closed circle at Miss L's house, and then headed back to Miss P's for our usual dinner and Midnight Margaritas. 

My personal altar looked great for Samhain. Here, have a peek:

I just had to watch for little Miss Onnie, as she would run off with a few of the flowers to play with.

Well, now that the wheel has turned, and we are starting into the winter season, I have changed up the altar, and decorated my broom that hangs on the wall behind it. Here it is:

I also got the Christmas tree up. My mom gave me her tree, as she says she's hit the "old lady" phase, and only wants a 2 foot tree. lol. This one is much smaller that the tree I normally put up. And, thank the Heavens, as it's saved a lot of space in my small great room. Here it is:

In the spirit of the season, I figured I would get the gifts I had wrapped and under the tree. Well, that just invited trouble, in the form of a little black cat:

It never fails. Where ever I am working, little Miss Onnie Moon must present herself to help. And by help, I mean batting things off the table, chewing on pens when you are trying to write, walking on wrapping paper as you're laying it, and other such fun things. But, I love her so much.

As for tomorrow's class, I will be doing things a little differently. And, that's only because of how many people already have their family favorite recipes for this time of year. I just want to suggest a few new ideas, and the in class demo will not involve any cooking. I will be making a cold dish. I will be baking cookies tonight, however, to share with everyone. So, let's see how it goes. If you are local to the Columbus and Grove City area, you can attend the class. There is a $5 fee to help cover supplies, but you get to take home lots of recipes, and a dry mix to try at home for yourself. Stop by at visit us at Blessed Be Spiritual Shop in Grove City, Ohio.

I wanted to announce that I now have an Etsy shop up and running. Currently, I only have a few things in there, but I will be posting up more toward the end of the week. Right now I have several styles of Pagan Prayer Beads/Witches' Ladders available, and the new postings will have several styles of pendulums. I also offer replacement pendulum chains that have semi-precious gemstone beads and alloy charms on them. You can find my shop under the name of RosieGypsy Designs. Stop by and have a peek, see if there is anything to your liking. Also, some of my items are sold at Blessed Be. You can stop by there and get some instant shopping gratification.

Well, off to get some things done. Hopefully, in the next few days, I will update the Yule page, and I will post photos from tomorrow night's class. Until next time..... Blessed Be!

Fall is on the way!

Fall is my favorite season. I love the cool, crisp weather, the colors of the turning leaves, the chilly weekend nights around a fire. I am definitely a fall weather person. I love to wear jeans and sweaters, with boots and scarves. Or, for just doing stuff around the house, a pair of sweats. lol. I also love to cook, can and bake. And, even though fall hasn't officially started, I started feeling the urge for fall foods a couple of weeks ago. So, my Mabon class (held last night at the shop) was right up my alley.

For class, I made a Quick Mabon Cake, and served apple cider (my favorite). I would've liked to have done more, but I was unable to get the day off, as I usually do. If I would've had the time, I would've made some Cheesy Potato Soup and Mabon Cider. So, I guess I'll just have to settle for making it this weekend, along with some fresh bread. If anyone is interested, I have updated the Mabon page with the recipes from the class. I will probably use pull out a couple of these recipes to make my dishes for the Mabon picnic we have planned for Sunday the 20th. We have decided to have a community picnic to celebrate in a fashion similar to the old ways. We are doing an old fashioned potluck, taking donations of canned goods for the local food bank, and just plan on enjoying the day together. We will even be holding an open circle just past noon. I can't wait. I'll be sure to post photos.

Until next time.... Blessed Be!

Happy belated Lughnasadh

I didn't get a chance to post it yesterday, but Happy Lughnasadh! Yesterday was spent in the age old tradition of turning harvested grain into a harvest feast. After the Kitchen Witchery class on Tuesday, we cooked up the idea (ha ha! Pun totally intended) to have a Lughnasadh celebration. Mrs. L offered to have it at her house, and we used one of my model menu plans and expanded from there. Here is what was served:

Sweet Corn Chowder
Cornish Pasties
Chicken Salad
Orange and Avocado salad
Braided Egg Bread
Full Moon Cornbread
Bread and rice pudding with Blackberry-Honey with bourbon
Vegan chocolate cake with salted caramel icing
French silk pie

We made it a potluck, and the invite was put out on facebook. We did a circle in the back yard, and then headed in for dinner, once we were finished. Everyone arrived by 7, and we wrapped up around 10. We had a great time, and a good turn out for such short notice. Besides the good food, there was lots of good talk. It has been years since I have been part of a good Sabbat celebration, and I am so blessed to be included in this one. I hope there will be many more. My only regret was that my phone was really low on battery, and I didn't get any photos. :(

For my portion of the meal, I made the Cornish Pasties (or as we having been calling them, Cornish Pixies), Bread Egg Bread which was used on the alter, Full Moon Cornbread, and the Bread and Rice pudding and sauce. I started baking at 9 am, and finally shut the oven off around 5:30. It's been forever since I have spent an entire day baking, and it felt good, I started to feel like my old self. So, all in all, it was a great day all round.

So, until next time...... Blessed Be!

Lughnasadh/Lammas Class

This evening's class was small, but fun. We didn't have as big of a turn out as last class, but we hope to have more next time. However, we still had a blast, and some really yummy food:

All set up for class

The youngest arranging my books

In this class we covered the full moon and Lughnasadh. Before the class, I made up some salsa and homemade chips (recipes found on the Lughnasadh/Lammas page). In stead of regular salt, I used pink Himalayan salt to season both the salsa and chips. It was a great addition to the flavor. In class, I made one of my favorite recipes, Full Moon Cornbread (recipe on the Full Moon page). It has been forever since I've made, but now I wonder why I ever stopped. YUM! Everyone loved it, there were no left overs:

Baking up yummy goodness!

The shop did get in some new stock, and needless to say, I ended up adding to my ever growing collection of pagan books:

New reading material

As I told the youngest, you can never have too many books, especially if they are cookbooks. So, I think I will be starting a page for my vast collection of books, and I will probably write small reviews of them. Yeah. That sounds like a good idea. lol.

So, until next time..... Blessed Be!

Laptops, books and kitties! Oh my!

A few months back, my trusty laptop took a nose dive. The fan died. I ordered a new one, and tried to fix it, but that was all for not, as the new fan didn't work either. So, for the past couple of months I have been borrowing the youngest daughter's laptop to post, and to make the lesson plans for my Kitchen Witchery classes. I decided last week that I just couldn't take it any longer and I had to find something new. So, I started searching, and finally decided that I wanted something small, versatile, and able to function in any manner I needed. So, I decided that I wanted a Microsoft Surface 3.

It arrived yesterday, and so far I am loving it. I made sure to get the keyboard and the pen. The only issue I have had is that the bluetooth portion of the pen isn't syncing with the tablet. However, I did contact Microsoft, and they will be sending me a new one. But, I did place my order on Amazon, and decided that while I was placing a new order that I might as well add to my book collection. So, I ordered the new Lughnasadh book from their new Sabbats series.

Image courtesy of Llewellyn

It never hurts to have another book, right? ;) I can't wait to dive into this one over the next week, before my next class. I really loved their first series, and this one is shaping up to be just as good. This is my third book from the new series, and I definitely plan on collecting all of them.

Speaking of my next class, I have the lesson plan in the bag, and will be adding the recipes to the Lammas/Lughnasadh tab before the class. I have some very yummy things planned, and lots of suggestions for everyone. Keep an eye open for that.

Now, for the third part of my title: Kitties! What would a post be without a photo of my little hellion familiar? Little Miss Onnie is such a little joy. She is still coming out of her shell, but she's made big progress since coming home. She has developed a fondness for attacking my pant legs and biting them while I am trying to prepare her food. Just take a look at this little cutie:

Well, until next time.... Blessed Be!

My Kitchen Witchery

Happy Late Mid-Summer! It's been a couple of busy weeks, so I am very late in writing this post. I have a bit of exciting news. As I mentioned previously, I have been attending fellowship at a pagan/spiritual shop near home called Blessed Be (Facebook link on the sidebar), for over a year now, and when the owner that conducts the fellowships asked for volunteers to help host some, I jumped right in. As I am a solitary kitchen witch, it was only natural that my fellowships/classes be on cooking and kitchen witchery. We have started arranging the classes so that I can focus on the Sabbats. My first class was on my birthday last week, and focused on Litha/Mid-Summer/Summer Solstice. Granted, my birthday is a few days after, but it still worked out great. In the class I made Fried Honey Cakes (aka: Fairy Cakes), and before the class I made Serendipity Cookies and fresh Lavender-Honey Lemonade. It was fun and yummy. I also put together a hand out for everyone that included the recipes, a menu planning suggestion, and some decorating/tablescaping ideas. Here are a few pics from the event:

As I had to use a small deep fryer, the Fairy Cakes came out more like funnel cake (but who doesn't like funnel cake, right?), and we had the honey-nutmeg dipping sauce for them. The Serendipity Cookies were awesome, as usual. I will be posting the recipes for these items on my new pages (listed above, directly below the header).

This Lavender-Honey Lemonade was absolutely delicious! I will definitely be making more of it, that's for sure. If anyone is interested in a copy of my hand out, you can email me here, and I will be more than happy to send you back a copy. I am also available for any questions or needed suggestions. You can either email me, or leave a comment, and I'll get back to you as quickly as I can.

During the class, I placed out part of my pagan cookbook collection, along with my personal cookbook. Also, during the class, we touched on how to incorporate herbs with magical properties into your cooking to help weave magic into your everyday life, and mundane activities. I am really looking forward to the next class, which will be July 28th. For this class, I will be covering Lammas, and the Full Moon. I am still in the process of putting together everything for the class, but after the class I will post an update, the recipes on the companion blog, and have the hand out available for anyone interested.

In other news, my newest familiar has finally come home. However, she has brought a companion with her. Her mommy:

We have welcomed Miss Sophie Anne into our home. My best friend was having problems trying find a home for her, partly because she was a stray, and because she wasn't a kitten. I talked it over with the hubby, and it only made sense that since I had put money and time into making sure she was healthy, along with all of her babies, that we might as well take her in and love her. So, here she is, and here she will stay. She is such a quiet and loving thing, she is hardly any trouble. Well, except when she is chasing the dogs through the house to protect her baby. lol. But, we are working with her to get her to stop, and understand that the dogs really just aren't interested in eating her offspring. lol. But, we are getting there.

Until next time..... Blessed Be!

A bit of house keeping

Wow! It's dusty in here. I can't believe I have left this poor blog sitting on the shelf for so long. Especially since the youngest daughter and I have found a local pagan shop that holds fellowship twice a month, and we have been going for the past year. So, I guess there is a bit of catching up to do. So, where to begin? Ah, yes. In my last post, I talked about my new familiar, Ceri. Unfortunately, my little Ceri passed away from Feline Leukemia in October of 2013. We were unaware that she had had it since birth. We were devastated to lose her. May the Goddess watch over her.

Cerridwen Dwendolyn

May 31, 2012 - October 9, 2013

Because I was so heart broken, my husband decided that I needed a new familiar to help me get over losing Ceri so soon. He was set on the fact that I needed a black cat, and nothing else would do. We also agreed that no matter what, we would make sure she was healthy, and she would not die of the Feline Leukemia that took little Ceri. So, we took a couple of weeks to search the local cat shelters to find a new family member. We did find a beautiful little female. Her name was Jelly. We brought her home on December 31, 2013 and I named her Jellybean. We made sure she was well taken care of, and had our vet check her over to make sure. She was my loving baby. If you wanted to find her, all you had to do was look for me. She was with me every minute I was home, forever in my lap, especially when I was knitting. So, it was especially hard when she got sick in June of 2014. We took her to the vet and found that she had FIP, which is always fatal. This devastated me beyond words. May the Goddess hold her close.

Jellybean

April 1, 2013 - June 7, 2014

After Jellybean, I made the decision that I would not take another familiar for a very long time. I was holding that very well, until a couple of months ago, when I got a text message from my best friend. Even then, I tried to hold my ground. See, it seems she had taken in a pregnant stray cat to keep her from having her babies in the extreme freezing weather. I would've held to my decision if there hadn't been a tiny black kitten among the three little ones born the morning of March 8th, and well my best friend knew it. I even told her no for the first day. By the second day, my convictions were faltering. I talked it over with my husband, and he told me no, as he didn't want to see me hurt again so soon. But, I broke down his walls, granted it took me a couple of days. I agreed to take the little one, but only after she, her siblings and her mama were checked over by the vet, and all were given a clean bill of health. I even said I would pay the vet bill. So, here we are, nine weeks and two vet visits later. 

Meet Onyx Moon, Onnie for short. Since my best friend loves me so much, she has agreed to keep her until all of her vet visits are taken care of, and she has had all of her shots, just in case. And, in case you are wondering, my nephew picked out the name Onyx, as he named her sister Ruby, and her brother Emerald. He's only six, and a big Mine Craft fan. lol. However, this little kitty reminds me so much of my beloved Anck Su Namun (Moonie for short). Her fur (length and coloring) are so much like Moonie's was, and she even has her disposition, so far. My husband is hoping her attitude will change, as Moonie was very mean to everyone but me. lol. She reminds me so much of Moonie, that both me and my BFF slipped and called her by that name today. lol. Little Onnie will be able to come home to us in a couple of months. Until then, I spend time over at my BFF's house every Saturday.

In the rest of my world, not much else is going on. The previously mentioned "teenager with an attitude" has since become "full time college student with 2 part time jobs", and has moved out on her own. The youngest has taken up the post of "teenager with an attitude". She is too much like her mama, and it just depends on my mood as to whether she gets in trouble, or gets a high five. lol. As I said above, the youngest and I have been attending fellowship twice a month for the past year, and open circle when they host one. I figured it would be good for the youngest, as she decided to follow the pagan path when she turned 13, and I thought the topics discussed and the classed held would help her to better understand her choice. And, I thought I could also benefit from it, as I am a self taught, solitary practitioner of about 25 years. A little extra knowledge, and some extra company have never hurt anyone. Other than that, everything else is pretty much just every day life. So, until next time..... Merry Meet! And hope to see you again soon.