Blessings everyone,

I just wanted to drop a line and let everyone know I'm still around. I want to thank my new friends for wanting to be my friend on here, and my old ones for all the lovely messages. I was working and well not having time to get on here like I want too. Came through Ike fine, we just got our lights back on sat, a week without lights was a bit hard, I think I was happier when we got water back though. I just got out of the hospital due to having acute bronchitis, which I came down with in the aftermath of the storm. I am doing better just on a lot of meds at this time, just taking it easy. But other then that life is good. I am thankful that the only damage we got was some branches around the yard and one tree was up rooted, which would have to be my favorite one that was in between my circle and moon garden. Broke my heart when I saw it on the ground.  Friends in Houston, Liberty and other towns close by are all ok. Some friends in Liberty TX had a tree fall on their home, I am very thankful they are ok. They were sleeping in their room when it fall and it landed on their bedroom, I give thanks to the Goddess they were not hurt, they were able to get out and go to a neighbors house for safety.

I want to wish everyone a Blessed Mabon, may your second harvest be filled with joy and love.

And to my friends in other parts of the world that are celebrating Ostara, may the seeds you plant for your harvest be bountiful.

My dear hubby made me a wonderful present. I have been looking on line for a skein winder, and boy are those things pricey. Rick made me one today, and it looks just like the ones you can buy online. He did a wonderful job on it. Now it is easier for me to wind my yarn. He is looking in to making me a drum carder, hand carders and a ball winder for my little hobby. A drum carder is over three hundred dollars, hand carders are like 50.00 and up. The skein winder like the one he made me is 80.00 and up. I guess it depends on the wood. Mine is made out of birch and oak, both very pretty woods. I can move the pegs to make two different size skeins, with a handle to spin the winder. It is to awesome!! And it only cost us 12.00 to make it, go figure. But anyway here is a picture of my skein winder my baby made for me.

Well my wheel is here, she came in friday. I spent most of friday and today staining her and putting her together. I have named her Rory short for Aurora. I did my first bit of yarn tonight and well it was hard to start out at first, remember I have never spinned before. I was getting frustrated, but I took a very special lady's advice relax have fun with spinning and before I knew it I was making yarn. I am looking forward to more days with Rory, with her and I making a bond of mutual respect and friendship.  I love my little wheel, she is so cute. I am looking forward to getting the hang of spinning and making my own yarn. I have picked up my knitting needles again to make my new little man his blanket from yarn that his grandmother spinned and knitted just for him. Yes I see new traditions in the making here.  For each new grandbaby, grandma is making them a special blanket. At full moon I am doing a blessing and a cleansing on Rory and making her into a magickal tool. Here is a picture of my girl and my first bit of yarn that I spinned.

I just had to share this wonderful news. Well at least to me lol. I have just bought me a spinning wheel. I have been wanting one for a very long time and I have saved up the money and bought me one today. I am so looking forward to learning a very old craft that has been with us since the beginning of time just about.  I bought me a Kromski Prelude, I like the look of it, it's look like the kind that you would see in a fairy tale. But I am looking forward to making my own yarn, and making some beautiful colors to work with. I know how to weave, so what a wonderful way to make such beautiful cloths by spinning your own thread.  My first project is to spin some yarn and to crochet my new grandson  a beautiful blanket. I know that this journey I am under taking will be fun. I have never used a spinning wheel  and I don't have a teacher close to teach me so this is going to be a hands on learning experence lol. Here is a picture of my new wheel, except my wheel is unfinished, and I'm going to stain it Classic Oak Gloss, a stain and polyurethane in one. It's going to be shiny and pretty lol.

Formal training in the Craft.

To start off with I have no formal training in my chosen path, everything I have learned has been by trial and error. And what books or what I have found on the net. Now I have been walking my path for 17 years.

What is my path you ask? Well my main path is Kitchen Witchery, in layman terms I'm just a Witch and a very proud one. But 17 years ago I didn't have the luxury that is available now for many starting on the path of Paganism. I didn't have the wonderful books that are out there now, I could not go to my computer and Google what I wanted to know about. 

So you ask the how did you come to be a witch? Well I could not find what I wanted in organized religion, it left me with more questions then they had answers for. Plus I could not believe in a God that was all hell fire and brimstone and that if I made one little mistake I was going to a very hot place. It just did not fit with me, so one day I was in a library and I found this little black book in between two books about the devil called Helping Yourself With White Witchcraft and that little book started me on my path. I read it so much it was falling apart, and I had to buy it from the library. There was a little shop by my house and it was a Voodoo shop with herbs, oils etc.. I loved going in there and there was this little black woman that I would talk to and ask questions, so from her I learned a bit about Voodoo and herbs. She taught me about candle magick the most. For me it was like coming home. For you see my grandfather taught me as a child about magick and to respect the Earth our Mother as he put it. But he died when I was 13 and grandmother tried to cleanse her heathen as she put it in no uncertain terms.

But you see I still did not really know about the Goddess and the God. That came a bit later in my self teaching. Books were starting to come out a bit by then Raymond Buckland, Scott Cunningham to name a few. They became my true teachers in the Craft.  What I know about herbs magick wise is due to Scott Cunningham and trial and error on my part. They introduced me to the Lord and Lady and there started my own personal path with them. Now something I could look up and study for there were books abound about ancient deities. So I studied and studied many different cultures and their beliefs. And to my amazement they all shared the same stories just in different ways. A virgin giving birth, a sun god being born. And it gave me a chance to really dig deeper in the christian belief, imagine my amazement when I seen they shared many characteristics of other faiths. But I learned and as the years went by I had more books to learn from. I met others of like mind and learned from them. I used what I thought was best for me and discarded the rest. If I told you all the different paths I have studied over the years I will be here all night. But again no formal training with no set path. I was me, I learned what I wanted to learn, use what felt right to me. But the more my magick grew, so did my spiritual self grow.  The more I worked with magick, the more my bond grew with the Lord and Lady. I have had a few teachers come into my life that left me feeling cold, they were just talking the talk, not walking the walk.  That was not what I was looking for. So I kept on my little path of self discovery, and on my path I found some wonderful people that have touched my life in very special ways. They became my teachers, mentors, and fellow path walkers, and I stay in touch with these few special people. I have set at the feet of Yvonne Frost and just soaked up her wonderful energy and special light that is all her. I have danced the May Pole with Raymond Buckland and had wonderful talks with this man. I watched Gavin and Yvonne dance a special dance and you could see the magick between them. I have listen to Janet Farrar give a lecture. My dream is to meet Dorothy Morrison one day. I have all her books and I love them. Ember K, Ravenwolf, Buckland, Cunningham, Frost and many others have been my teachers over the years. That is my formal training in the Craft.

Now I have a few years under my belt and I have had a few students and I have learned as much from them as they have learned from me. It is always nice to get a fresh open mind that likes to ask questions that make you think. I know many on here will echo that statement as teachers. Last year I had one that keep me on my toes as a kitchen witch student, I learned much from her. But even though I now teach and have been a mentor a time or two, I am still a student and at this time I am learning about four new paths. I have teachers and a mentor to help me learn about these paths I have chosen to learn more of.

So the question is do you really need formal training on your way to self discovery?

And the reason I ask this is because I had someone tell me that I could not be a High Priestess of Eclectic Witchcraft there is no such path, I could not be a High Priestess of Kitchen Witchery a path that I have been truly following for 10 years. I did not have a signed sealed divine teacher that taught me my Craft. I do not have a pedagry a mile long so my titles which I am very proud of and I have worked very hard to have these titles are not real titles. Well I have to say I disagree with this person, my titles are just as real as theirs, so I did not have a fuddy duddy follow my rules or else group that I learned from. I learned from the best teachers there is, my God and Goddess.