I'm just a simple witch trying to find my way through life.

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Spiritual Wonderings

Good evening gentle readers,

I have been pondering a lot on matters of the spiritual variety lately. I seem to be heading in the direction of Buddhism. I guess it makes sense. Buddhism seems to be in alignment with much of the standards and ideas that I seek to live my life by. Though, as always, I wish I could find a teacher or mentor. The problem is, that there is so much information out there. How can I research the different schools of Buddhism? Who should I be reading? I would be eternally grateful for some guidance, but I am not sure where to turn. The nearest Buddhist center is an hour drive away, and in another state. The local library is not much use. I am in the middle of rural nowhere. What is a Witch to do? So I find myself in the position of being  not quite Pagan eclectic Witch with Buddhist leanings. Life is complicated.

Weaver

Monday, June 1, 2015

A Breakfast Tea

Greetings gentle readers,

It is the first day of June. Hooray! Well, maybe? It is now June. Summer should be here.




Yet, it is only supposed to reach a high temperature of  65 F or 18 C. This is not exactly what I call Summer weather. So I thought to myself, what an excelent day for a breakfast tea. 



We had almond poppyseed tea bread with cream cheese, cherries, and over medium eggs, with some genmaicha to drink.


I used the Chinese tea set that my husband and I purchased together on our honeymoon in the strip district of Pittsburgh.


All in all it made for a rather nice if chilly start to June day.
The view outside our kitchen window.

Today I will be sharing with:
and


 Sincerely,
Weaver

Saturday, May 30, 2015

Art and a New Look

Good evening gentle readers,

I am trying out a new look for my blog this evening. I hope it is well liked. I am not sure what else to discuss. So, here is some of my artwork to share.
"Remembering Jackson"

A Rose by Any Other Name

Jazz Syncopation

Alien Landscape

Swirling Envy

Cosmic Rose
Aum

Solar-flares

Where is the Lorax?

Der Engel

I am joining How Sweet the Sound for Pink Saturday.



Weaver

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Teatime Tuesday

Good evening ladies and gentlemen,


I am having a quiet, peaceful, lazy kind of day today. And so, I thought it would be pleasant to have tea with my husband this afternoon. But what should I make?  I mentioned in a previous post that one of the secrets to good gluten free baking is to measure by weight. Another resource for finding recipes by weight is to check European sites. One of my favorite sites for finding recipes is allrecipes.co.uk. So I decided to search in their collection of Afternoon Tea recipes. I decided on the one egg cake



Those who know me, know that I always tinker with recipes. I decided to enhance the lemon flavor by adding the zest of one whole lemon with the dry ingredients and doubling the lemon extract. I used my homemade gluten free flour blend. Any should work, as long as it contains xanthum gum. I increased the bake time to 1 hour. I also made a lemon glaze for the cake. In a saucepan, I combined: the juice of one lemon, 2 Tblsp. water, and 100 gr. sugar. I cooked, stirring constantly till the sugar was completely dissolved. After removing from the heat I added 1 tsp. vanilla extract and 1 tsp. lemon extract to the glaze. When the cake is done remove from oven and leave in the pan. Poke the top of the cake all over with a skewer.


Pour the glaze over the still warm cake. Allow to cool completely in the pan. When cool carefully invert onto a a plate or cake stand. Serve with a nice cup of tea.

Shared with Antiques and Teacups.
Bernideen,
and Rose Chintz Cottage
Weaver

p.s. I have not been paid or in any way compensated to endorse allrecipes.co.uk.

Early Morning Musings

Good morning dear readers,

This morning I woke up early, a few hours before my family. There is just something special about those quiet moments, when the house seems so peaceful and serene. I let out the dog, fed the cats, finished some house work, then sat down for a peaceful cup of coffee by myself. I know it isn't much but, these are the moments we need to be grateful for.

Weaver

Monday, May 25, 2015

Magickal Musings

Good evening ladies and gentlemen,

I was wondering if any of you out there have ever worked with the DKMU Godforms. I have been fascinated lately with them, especially the twins, Enu and Nul, it seems not many Khaotes are working with them anymore.
Enu and Nul 
The Twins

 Yet, I seem to be inextricably drawn to them, especially Enu, also known as the Black Queen. I came to Chaos Magic almost by chance. So far I have worked with Ellis, Enu and Nul, the White Queen, and Conjunctio. I am not sure why, but other than Ellis, I seem to be working my way backwards through the Godform cycle.


It is very strange. Recently my spiritual life seems to be getting turned upsidedown. And yet, I am the most at peace that I have felt in years. Has anyone else gone through this? It is all very strange.


Weaver

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Coconut Tea Bread (gluten free)

Dear Readers,
Gluten intolerance and celiac disease are all over the news these days. The Mister and I are both gluten intolerant ourselves. But, one need not give up delicious foods just because of that. I am going to let you in on a secret to making excellent gluten free baked goods. Measure by weight. I know if you are an American cook you may have never done this. You can purchase a digital cooking scale inexpensively for around $10.  A book that has been very influential for me in developing my own gluten free recipes is Ratio by Michael Ruhlman. This book has been a life saver. It is simply put a collection of chef’s master formulas. Many of the store-bought mixes I have tried simply did not turn out at all for me, and much of the readymade items are expensive, don’t taste very good, and have an ingredient list that read like the contents of a chemistry set. So here for your delight is a simple recipe for a coconut tea bread.
p.s. This recipe will work with regular a.p. flour as well. Also, you can substitute any milk or milk alternative that you prefer.
Coconut Tea Bread
Ingredients:
8 oz. gluten free flour blend (I make my own, but any should work)
4 oz. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. Baking Powder
8 oz. coconut milk
4 oz. melted fat (I used ½ butter and ½ coconut oil)
2 lg. eggs
2 tsp. vanilla (optional)
1 tsp almond extract (optional)
1 C. toasted coconut
Combine 1st four ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine. Add the liquid ingredients and stir or whisk till thoroughly mixed (no need to worry about over mixing with gluten free flour). Fold in the toasted coconut. Pour into a greased loafpan. Hint: if using butter, save the wrapper to grease your pan. Bake in a 350* oven for 1hour and 15 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan on a cooling rack. Enjoy with butter, jam, and a nice cup of tea.



Weaver

Introduction pt. 2

Greetings Dear Readers,

In my first post I discussed the hidden world that I live in. However I did not spend much time on who I am in everyday life. In the normal day to day world my life is quite ordinary. I am married to the man of my dreams. Though, most married women who blog say similar. I have two sons from a previous marriage, both of whom are young adults (18 and 21 years old). I am a full-time nontraditional aged college student. I work part-time as a tutor. I enjoy cooking, baking, knitting, crochet, quilting, and reading. All in all I lead a pretty quiet life.

I plan to make this an all-purpose blog, and therefore my posts may be of a varied nature. I may discuss recipes, crafts, current-events, spirituality, family life, or I may relate a story. I am not sure what else I may post about. I plan to let things develop organically.


Weaver

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Introduction

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. My name is Weaver, and I live in two worlds. Though most of the people in both have never heard of me. In the first world, the ordinary world that most of you live in, I am simply an ordinary 30 something wife and mother. In the other world, the world that my husband and a few dozen other select individuals created about seven years ago I am a witch. Still, not that extraordinary in itself, but we’ll get to the uniqueness of my situation in a bit.
First, I believe it should be in order for me to explain about this other world. As I said, it came into being about seven years ago. Well, that’s not quite exactly true. It had always been there lurking just below the surface, hiding in our dreams, and in half remembered snatches of fairy tales that we learned in childhood. I am speaking of the world of magic. Yes, you heard me right, magic. Seven years ago this July a select group of occultists got together and hatched a plan to tear down the consensus reality in order to make their magical workings more powerful and easier. Though, plans had been in the works for several years before that.
It all began with Ellis. Who is this Ellis you ask? “L.S.” the linking sigil, was a concept originated by several members of the group.  The idea was that by coming up with a symbol that they could all use, they would be able to link to each other’s magic no matter where they might be in the world. These sigils, once in place and linked, would form a sort of web that each of the members could tap into whenever they wanted to. This seemed like a simple idea, right. Well, strange things began to happen. The linking sigil worked, really well in fact, for some it worked frighteningly well. And the more people worked with it the more powerful it became. Soon, LS began to develop into an independent thought-form. Low and behold, Ellis had been born. Magicians began seeing a spirit associated with the sigil. Initially she came to those who had created her as a holy child figure (playful, mischievous, and prone to temper tantrums), soon another persona arose that of the lover (believe me she can be quite seductive), and finally as the Red Queen (a powerful middle-aged woman). Always she appears as a redhead.


                                              The Linking Sigil

Soon more and more people got involved. Ellis was showing up in occult forums and workings that had nothing to do with the original group. Then a plan began to be formulated. The new goal of the group was to bring down the veil between the worlds. Plans were made. Sigils were drawn. And in what eventually become known as the Chelsea Working, on July 17th, 2008, they did just that. And what’s more, not only were they successful, a prophecy was given and an entire pantheon of new Gods were born. We will speak more of them in later posts.
I know, I know. You think I’m crazy. “Nothing happened in 2008,” you say. But I assure you it did. You see, it was not so much a matter of the veil having come down all at once. No one would have survived that, on either side. Rather, the veil was made thin, sort of rubbed through in places. After all, haven’t you noticed how the old Gods are coming back in force all over the world after nearly two millennia of dominance by the One? The internet has likewise grown by leaps and bounds so that you now have even sub-Saharan Bushmen with internet access via cellphones. I personally am currently participating in a project that involves practitioners from nine different countries. You can contact anyone anywhere in an instant. This is not the world you grew up in.
While the initial working was successful, there continue to be occasional hiccups that occur. In southern France a very old, very powerful water spirit woke up and began wreaking havoc. Trust me the semi-mythological mother of kings is no small matter to deal with. In Afghanistan, the Djinn are beginning to get active again. And a Wendigo that turned up outside of Seattle led to a rush of Bigfoot sightings. All of these events require prompt and discreet clean-ups. My husband is one of the Magicians who take care of that.
Well, I believe I have said more than enough for a first post. I've let you in on our little secret. Magic is real. The magicians won. Yet most of the world goes on about their lives just as before. The economy worsens. There are wars and rumors of wars. We are born. We die. Life goes on. But, for those select few that know, and that includes you too now, reality just got a whole lot bigger.


Weaver