Tag Archives: Magic

October 27, 2017

Ghourls’ Night In

By JL

We all remember the witches from the fairy tales of our youth, or the movies we watched as teenagers. They were generally a pretty frightening bunch of ladies, all seeming to have a score to settle.

Dark and a little bitter might be okay for chocolate but whose got time for the whole bitch-on-a-broomstick thing when there are parties to attend? And what better time to kick up your witchy heels with your like minded ghourl friends than Samhain?

The witching hour is nigh, but have no fear—there’s still time to conjure up these simple party tricks and treats for a covenly night of witchy fun—almost as easily as waving your magic wand.

Calling All Witches

Every good party starts with a great invitation. Choose from dozens of Halloween themed layouts like this one at Punchbowl. Customize with the who, what, where, and when then send by email or social media. POOF — all your friends have the deets.

Where The Witches Live

Witches live in scary houses, so be sure to set the theme for your party beginning at the front door. You could carve up a Jack-o-lanter or two and call it good, but—really? This is the time to show off all your practical magic by creating a truly dramatic entrance.

These witch hat luminaries styled by Melissa at Polkadot Chair will impress your guests right off the bat.

And speaking of bats . . .

Don’t forget to hang a few of these from the rafters, along with glow in the dark spider webs and lots of creepy plastic spiders.

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Finally, add to the sinister ambience by dimming or turning off bright lights. Instead, use plenty of candles (electric versions for safety!) and strings of colorful lights like these, reminiscent of Dios De Le Muerte. Check out the Halloween isle at your local dollar store for all the decorations you’ll need in a hurry.

Bubble Bubble Toil and Trouble
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Start the cackling good time off by providing themed cocktails like this Poison Apple.  Or keep it simple by featuring a punchbowl as the centerpiece of your buffet spread. Check out Pinterest for more tasty concoctions.

You might consider going strictly with mocktails or an alcohol free punch to accommodate the tea-totaling witches. You can always offer alcohol on the side for those who wish to imbibe. Use these free printables from Suzy Homemaker to label your booze with a grave warning.

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Setting the Feast Table

What’s a party of witches without a feast? Justina Blakenley at Jungalow shows you step by step how to lay your dark side on the table for all to see. Best of all, she pulls it off without breaking the bank by using thrift and dollar store finds.

Ladies Fingers

Of course you don’t have to limit your feast to finger foods, but it doesn’t hurt to have some on the menu . . . fingers that is.

These delicious digits are my all time favorite witches’ party treat from Martha Stewart. Making them requires some baking experience and the prep is a bit fussy, but they are so worth it. Your ghourl friends won’t be able to stop licking their fingers. Find more frighteningly fun partie foods, made with every day ingredients at Pinterest.

Sound Effects

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Make sure your witchy guests are feeling your vibe with a chilling play list. No time to curate your favorites? Tune into year-round spooky tunes on Halloween Radio. You can listen live or download for free.

Fun and Games

Where’s that Magic 8 Ball you had as a kid when you need it? Why didn’t you buy that tarot deck you’ve been wanting? What self respecting witch worth her salt can’t provide a little divination for her guests?

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Relax, you don’t have to have a Tarot deck to peer into the fortunes of your guests, a plain deck or a roll of the dice will do. You can also try your hand at reading tea leaves, or scrying. Everything you need is right in your kitchen cupboard.

Merry Meet, Merry Part, Merry Meet Again

When it’s time to say good bye to your witchy sisters, be sure to send them off with a parting gift. Whether a little favor that sits in the palm of their hand, or a bag full ‘O goodies, they’ll know you (s)care a lot.

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2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Life Unscheduled, MUSINGS, RITUALS & PASSAGES

September 2, 2017

Happiness Is Wanting What You Have

By JL

Somebody said that. I don’t know who, or if they were important or well known. Whoever it was also added that happiness is not having what you want.

Fifteen years ago I was meandering around the interwebs looking for things. I wasn’t sure what things, but things that would fulfill me, fill me. I’d know when I found it.

I found SoulCollage®. I knew I wanted it, or rather, wanted to learn how to create the telling cards and use the system of self discovery that was going to bring positive change in my life and others I would teach.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the spare change to fly my ass out to the West Coast, the only place training was offered at the time, let alone to cover the fee for the weekend intensive. So, I did what I always do, read every word I could find and improvised.

Almost ten years later, SoulCollage® training made it’s way east, to Chicago. This time I scraped up the fee, enrolled in the training and pointed my little VW Bug toward the Windy City.

It was everything I expected, and less. Let me explain. I was not disappointed in the least by the substance and quality of the training, the experience of community that I found with those of like mind, or the unique location—a former Catholic campus, turned residence home for retired nuns and priests.

Are you kidding me? A gaggle of middle aged feminists dallying with tarot-like image cards to access our soul purpose? We may as well have hauled out the Ouiji board and pentagrams.

Turns out the nuns were not only curious, but very open to the concept. As I explained it to one of them over lunch she smiled and said to me, “Oh, you mean you’re trying to know your inner Christ.”

You say potAto, I say potAHto . . . we’re both still eating carbs.

So, back to the part about being less than I expected. It didn’t change my life in any revolutionary way (at least not then). Probably because like many things I want with all of my being when I see them, once in my possession there are new wants to pursue. Nature of the beast, or nurturing from a consumer driven environment pushing us to always acquire more in our doing, being and having? New flash!  There is never enough, we are never enough in that paradigm.Screen Shot 2017-09-02 at 11.45.07 PM

So, as it turns out, I’ve made quite a collection of SoulCollage® cards, and a funny thing happened along the way, a subtle change in my wants. Sure, some of my cards  speak to me about consumption and abundance, and time running out, about wanting what my eyes see—like this one. Can’t you just hear her, saying it . . . “Oh, I want that!”

But so many others are about hidden magic, creativity, freedom from expectations and a sense of wonder at the unexpected. Like me, a recovering Catholic school girl pulling up to a nunnery and not running in the opposite direction; totally unexpected. Or so enjoying the three days spent there that I have wanted to return ever since!

It’s very first world, to be able to say I’m learning to want fewer material things from the physical realm. It means I am secure and my needs are met—there is no wolf at the door. It’s the epitome of privilege to say I’m learning to want what I have instead of having what I want.

It’s where I’m at and who I am right now. And it’s enough.

I am the MAD Goddess, and I’ve got the *magic* in me.

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7 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Joie de Vivre, MUSINGS

November 8, 2015

This is My Beginning

By JL

I've Got the Magic In MeI woke up feeling magic all around me today. It’s as if my body opened up to take in all of the mystical energy I know is buzzing around me every minute, but that I can’t always feel. Maybe a better imagery is that of my body dissolving and melding into the magic until there is no physical boundary—I am the magic. I love when this happens.

Usually when this sense strikes I am out and about in nature, walking through the woods, wading in a stream or looking up into a black sky studded with stars that dance round Luna in her many phases.

Waking to the magic of nature, indoors, with no preparation or intent was a surprise. Perhaps it was the particular angle of the sunlight peeking into my room, the gust of wind that brought a rain of swirling, autumn leaves past my window, and the utter stillness of the house.

I padded outside to the deck in my robe and slippers. All but the last of the leaves have fallen, laying a carpet of red and gold over the land; they are quickly turning brown. The southwest wind blew across my skin. Warm for November, it is pushing winter’s chilling bite further north than my borderland realm.

I wanted to stay outside. It was warm enough, tucked up into a corner of the deck with the direct rays of the sun beating against the siding, but the magic was calling me back to the house. I returned inside, started my morning coffee to brew, and went to the box where I keep my tarot cards while I waited.

It’s been a while since I’ve used my deck so I wasn’t expecting much. I decided to just shuffle the cards, recharging them with the energy of the movement. I didn’t plan to do a reading, I was sitting in my easy chair with only my lap for a surface.

I’ll turn just one card, I thought, or maybe a simple three-card spread.

The cards practically turned themselves and in seconds I had a full ten-card reading, squished together and overlapping. The guidance from the cards was almost immediately clear to me—again a sensation of the cards and myself being one and the same. I knew, without question the meaning of the magic I’d felt, why I awoke with a sense that something was different, something big was happening. I’d gone to sleep and the world, my world at least, changed overnight.

I had to think what the date was. I’ve been a bit busy and wondered if I’d missed Hecate’s night, but no, I have eight more moon rises—a time that will mark the transition from waning to waxing with the dark moon right in the center. It was beginning to make sense.

Hecate is the Goddess of the crossroads, giver of life and death, protectress of everything newly born, seer into the past, present and future. Hecate reminds us that change is constant. She helps us to release the past, and with her torch she lights the way into the dark unknown of new beginnings.

I have too long nursed resentment and wished for the fates to dispense justice, but my justice is in my own hands. It’s time to stop letting others reopen my wound, believing that they will feel the depth of the cut and have pity or take up my cause. It’s time for me to stop mourning the life that was taken from me and start living the life I’ve been given. It’s time to stop carrying the burden of regret, time to bury my victimhood.

I am where I am supposed to be in this life, how I got here is secondary to what I will do from this point forward. This is my beginning.

4 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Joie de Vivre