The happenings of Litha

I know its kinda of late but I wanted to update on what I did for my Litha celebration.
I actually celebrated a day early but that is ok because at the time I really thought it was solstice, but anyway, I was in a bad mood because of my uncle and decided that I needed to spend time in my garden and create something.
I actually created two things this Litha, 1. is a wonderful god figure that will be my next post and 2. is I planted a new garden. Unfortunately my other garden in Sedona has been a slight failure. The corn and sunflowers are wonderful and have helped to ease the pain but I can't help but want a full garden. The truth is that since it was the first year for the garden of course it wasn't going to be a huge success especially with the soil there, but the goddess always has something planned.
There was already so much life in the backyard of my inlaws that while creating my figure I had to plant seeds. I found out that you should plant seeds by solstice because something about the seed knows that now it is heading towards cold weather. I learned this from a Hopi man so I am hoping that he knows what he is saying.
To get ready for the garden I cleared the space of mulch, because I like lines and no mulch unlike my partner, but I will eventually put the mulch back. I drew up a map of where I wanted to place the seeds and after that I started planting them.
I planted spinach, lettuce, collards, broccoli, basil, dill, mustard and and edible flower!!!
I also planted garlic all around my garden hoping that they will help to protect the garden from bad bugs, but I am not sure if they will or not.
Here are some pics to update after one week of growing.
Here is the little spinach growing with all its might!


The broccoli


Collard Greens, they look the same as the broccoli right now.


The lettuce is doing amazingly well


Here is the garlic and the fence I put around it!



I wish things would have started growing sooner, but I know that Vegas stays warm till about October. So hopefully we will have a bountiful harvest this year!
Next update will be the god figure!
Blessed be!

Giveaways!

A Nu(de) Motivation is having a give away that you have to enter by July 1st. It is for a book called Visions of the Goddess.
The post is asking for questions for the women partaking in this event. If you haven't already checked it out go on over and see what you think about it. I am in love with the idea of improving the way we view our bodies. That doesn't mean losing weight necessarily, but more about learning to love and better your life. If that is through a regimented exercise routine I think that is great!


There is also a giveaway going on over at Mother Moon's blog for her year anniversary. Check it out. I really enjoy her blog and what she has to offer.
The post is all about Mind Body and Soul. What touches you?

Heal our Mother

On Monday I participated in Heal the Water with my partner Bobby and with my new altar that my mother-in-law gave me. I was worried that I wouldn't know what to do but when I was at the bank with my partner I saw a box of crayons and sone paper so I decided to make a drawing. I must have been inspired by Nydia's son Lucas becasue I saw his drawing and must have channeled that. Nydia is actually the one who came up with the wonderful idea of continuing the ritual every Monday and I encourage you to all participate if you can!
Here is the picture I drew. It is the ocean with the oil slick in the water. But I didn't want to have that be permanent since I am sending my healing vibes to the Gulf so I decided to put green over it symbolizing the recovery of the water under the oil. Then I drew purple around it because purple is a spiritual healing color. Then I was sparked with a genius idea (from the goddess I am sure) and decided to draw the triple moon spirit sending out her yellow healing power. I also put a pentacle on there for healing earth power.
On top of that I placed a blue bowl and in that I pour salt for cleansing and say "Heal our mother" and then place a garnet in the bowl as well and say "protect our mother!".
I am really happy knowing that I am joining in with witches all over the world on Mondays sending our healing energy to our mother.


In other news PLEASE send your healing vibes to my home of Flagstaff Az. Unfortunately there is a huge fire burning 5 miles away from my home. It has scroched over 14,000 acres of forest. I know that the forest will rise from the ashes like a phoenix but until that time the fire needs to be contained. Please take the time to send out your healing touch to the forest if you can.
Here are some pictures of the smoke coming from the fire:


Remember "HEAL OUR MOTHER, HEAL OUR EARTH!"
Blessed Be!

Healing Water

Today I will be joining in an event to heal the Gulf. This event is a chance for us to heal mother earth and her waters. Here is a chance for all of us to gather at the river, creek, ocean, or bowl of water and send up our love and prayers for the Gulf and the animals in the Gulf. Diving Women is to thank for this happening and I am so honored to be taking part.
I know it is starting today but here is a video that was created by Teckla!
In this time of such great hurt mother earth needs us more then ever. Sending our energy together today will send change that needs to happen. The creatures and the sea need our love. They need our help and it can all start here.
Whether you are at the river side, the ocean, the puddle, or the bowl in your hands take part. Join with us to heal the Earth! She needs us.
Be the change you want to see in the world.

You can find more out about the event from Diving Women blog! I am now a follower. You should be too!
Blessed be!

Mojo Bags

Before I left for the summer to the in-laws I met up with Caitlin from the neo-pagan alliance and we decided to have a craft day. After meeting on campus and occasionally having ritual and outside of school meetings I wanted to get together and do pagan things with someone else who wanted the same.
Caitlin and I had been talking for a while about getting together to have a pagan craft day, where we could exchange some ideas and also join together to talk and make wonderful crafts.
I suggested making mojo bags that I had heard about on MrsB's blog. She mentioned it in her post about Voodoo and I was so intrigued by the topic that I spent the next 2 hours reading all the links I could find. I really was interested in the mojo bags becasue I have always wanted to work have talismans, make amulets, and things that I can carry around but never could sit down and do them. So when I read about these bags I knew I had to make one. The goddess has an interesting way of pointing you in a certain direction. Caitlin had made a necklace pouch type thing ( I'm not sure what to call it) weeks before I discovered mojo bags and I had expressed my want to make them, but it never worked out. Well, when I knew I wanted to make a mojo bag, I knew Caitlin would be the perfect person to work with because she a) likes crafts and b) has the supplies I didn't have for crafts.
Once I asked Caitlin if she wanted to have a craft day and she said yes, I went to my local magic store and picked up some Smoky Quartz!
When reading about mojo bags for travel I found that smoky quartz was good for protection and that is what I picked out. It was a very reasonable price for the stones and I was excited to get working. The day came and we discussed what we wanted to put into the mojo bags. I had brought over some protection herbs I had in my house and lucky Caitlin seemed to have the protection herbs I wanted but did not have or had forgotten. One thing we needed ws dirt. I had read that dirt from the place you are traveling to is the best, but unfortunately I didn't have any. That didn't stop me from making my mojo bag because I have learned that the intention behind what you are making is just as important if not more important than the ingredients you put in.
Anyway, Caitlin and I decided to go down to river bed that was dry because there was no more snow melt and to walk until we found some dirt that caleld to us. The walk I thought we were taking was only going to be a quick one, but we ended up walking for about an hour if not more. It was so nice. Caitlin showed me where she worked and she also took me to a little runoff lake that has been created. It was nice, there wasn't much life (except for algae) but it was a nice walk.
We then came back and started to set up the herbs we were going to add. I told Caitlin about Black Salt which I also learned about on MrsB's blog and we decided to make some while we were sewing. So we set aside out protection herbs and started burning some new herbs for the black salt and then picked out our fabric for the actual bag.
I decided that I was going to make a mojo bag for Amber who was traveling to mexico and to make that with a protection ruin on it and use blue fabric which is for protection while traveling. It turned out so pretty and I couldn't wait for her to see it.
Weeks went by and i still had mine to work on. I was supposed to have it done by the time Bobby and I left for Vegas so I could have a nice talisman to put in our car, but of course I didn't get it done. I am happy to say that I finished in time for the last full moon to charge it. However, I am not pleased with the way the top turned out because I got lazy and just started stitching to get it closed. ( On a side note, I added purple sage, which is growing on a neighboors bush and the flower in the mojo bag is a purple sage flower. Smells gret and is beautiful! )
I realized after I made it that I was not happy with the way it looked and that I had forgotten 2 key ingredients. I left out mesquite and palo verde thorns. I was thinking of herbs for protection and was looking out the window and saw a mesquite and palo tree and all of a sudden I knew that the thorns on the tree were perfect for protection. My partener is a huge fan of using native plants and using those thorns is just one way to increase my use of native plants in my spell workings. I am going to cut out the top stitching and I redo it and also add in the thorns. I was looking at a new blog called Spellcrafts and was very intrigued by the idea of a drawstring on top of my bag. When I get the new top done I will post a picture of it.

I learned to take a chance and trust that the goddess will help work it out.
Blessed Be!