More Beady Goodness

I scouted out another charity shop today (who, sadly, had been robbed last week) looking for beads, and then popped back into the charity shop I had visited yesterday.  Look what I found!

 The round pendant with the star in the centre turned out to be a locket when I got it home.  And there are some lovely wooden beads and silver spacers.

The little bracelet is made up of tiger eye beads (!).  I also spotted this little spiral charm which will be perfect for the prayer beads.  Happy happy day!


And I just love the ladies who work in charity shops.  They're very kind and chatty, and it seems all the best gossip comes through their doors.  

Elemental Water: 44 Days of Witchery

This is a picture of Taughannock Falls in Trumansburg, NY.
The main cataract of the falls is a 215-foot drop (66 m), making it 33 feet (10 m) taller than Niagara Falls. It is one of the largest single-drop waterfalls east of theRocky Mountains.^[2] The water flows through a long gorge with cliffs up to 400 ft high (120 m), characteristic of the area's gorges that give rise to the common "Ithaca is Gorges" bumper stickers and t-shirts. The waterfall and gorge comprise an example of a hanging valley that developed in a very similar fashion to the one at nearby Watkins Glen State Park. None of the local gorges were "carved by glaciers." In fact all of the gorges are post-glacial valleys carved by the streams that still run through them. It is the valleys over which the waterfalls hang that were eroded (over-deepened) by the advance of the Pleistocene ice sheets.
   Courtesy of Wikipedia


This waterfall was sacred to the Native Americans who originally lived here, and flows into Cayuga Lake, in the center of the Finger Lakes region of New York.  If anywhere was my soul's home, it would be here.  Returning to my home waters is a magical, sacred thing for me, especially since I now live in Ireland.  

This pond is on the land of my Great-grandmother's family farm.  It's been in my family for generations, and is just an amazingly beautiful place.  This one place is probably the definition of peace for many in my family still.

31 Days of Samhain: A Memorable Samhain Experience

Relaying a memorable Samhain experience has been a difficult challenge for me, as I have never really thought of Halloween in the Samhain light, as it were.  This is the first year that I've even put an altar together for the season.  So, in a way, I'm creating my first memorable Samhain experience as I go this year.  I'm really enjoying the creation and maintenance of my altar, which is my fireplace and mantel.  You wouldn't look at it and notice necessarily, it just looks like seasonal decorations: pumpkins, apples, candles, some flowers, and a small glass bottle of salt with a crystal prism on top.  We have a large gilt mirror hanging above the mantel as well, which I think makes a nice focus.  With a fire blazing away in the fireplace, it really is a magical sight.

31 Days of Samhain

By way of Salem's Creations, I will attempt the 31 Days of Samhain (even though I'm way over my head with the 44 Days of Witchery).  Stand by for doubling up!

1. What is a memorable experience during Samhain?
2. What do I remember as most exciting about Samhain/Halloween as a child?
3. What do I wish to teach people about Samahin?
4. A favorite picture that represents Samhain.
5. Give us a short Autobiography of an Ancestor (Living or Dead) of yours. 
6. If your a parent, how do you involve your children in Samhain? 
7. What is your favorite design for your Jack - o - lanterns?
8. What things do you put on your alter for Samhain?
9. Share a Pagan/Wiccan story about Halloween/Samhain.
10. Suggest a website or book about Samahin.
11. Share your favorite recipe for Samhain dinner.
12. How do you celebrate Samhain/Halloween? 
13. Favorite Halloween movie.
14. Favorite Halloween costumes for adults and/or children.
15. Share a picture of a pet in costume.
16. What is your favorite Halloween Project(s) for the kids? 
17. Favorite scary monster.
18. What God(dess) do you involve in your Samhain rites?
19. A Samhain Resolution.
20. Tell us a tale about an ancestor of yours that has passed.
21. A picture of your Samhain alter.
22. Samhain divination: Draw one Tarot card and tell us how its message relates to your life. 
23. Share a poem (Either written by you or someone else with credit) that relates to Samhain/Halloween.
24. What are you doing to prepare for winter?
25. Talk about Halloween colors. Orange
26. Talk about Halloween colors. Black
27. What are you doing to prepare for winter?
28. Have you ever had an experience with Spirits? 
29. Ever lived or stayed in a Haunted houses?
30. Share or write a guided Samhain meditation.
31. Witches Choice! Happy Samhain Everyone. 

Harvest Home cross stitch design and so on....

With Harvest Home (Mabon) fast approaching (as in, at sundown tonight) I've been feeling moved to create a cross stitch design for the occasion.  Obviously, it won't be anywhere near finished in time.  Maybe it's just the equinox vibe.  I'm imagining acorns and hawthorne, and maybe pumpkins.  I'll try for something small, like an ornament, put will probably end up with something overly ambitious.  I would like to try some kind of band sampler though.

Last night I got to order a few more books for my sewing library.  The Embroidery Stitch Bible and 2001 Cross Stitch Designs It's all very exciting.  I've also set up a Facebook page for my blog CraftyMamaWitch, set up (partially) my Google+ account, and did general diddling around.

Youngest baby boy is in nursery until 11:30 as of today, and I'm so excited.  As much as I love the little monkey, this is the first time I've been alone in 9 years.  The list of things that I want to do while he's in school is as long as my arm.  I don't know whether to wind my ass or scratch my watch, as it were.  At least I got to do some blogging finally!