My Hearth Goddess: Parvati

Mrs. B just posted about working with Hestia on her blog, so I thought I'd discuss my relationship with my Hearth Goddess, Parvati.

I didn't instantly know I wanted to work with her, it was more like a long parade of failed dates with other hearth goddesses. A lot of my grove is totes into Bridget and I like her okay and all, but . . .we just never connected well. Sure we'd make polite conversation but that was about it. Frigga? Me and Norse do not gel well together and at the risk of offending readers, many of the people I know have not been treated kindly by the Norse pantheon and . . .I am not really a maschochist, I don't need you to hurt me to prove that you love me. Hestia? Well, closer, I'm more on the Greek (and later Hindu) side of the Indo-European pantheons but . . . she's v. no frills and not in a romantic relationship. Lakshmi? Closer as well due to pantheon, in a relationship but has Miss Martha standards I could not ever hope to fulfill.

My relationship with Parvati really started when Jow and I were invoking them for a Beltane a few years ago and the more I read about her the more I liked her and the more I started working with her, the more I liked her. Also, where Jow and I were in our relationship was similiar to how theirs seemed to work which really made it resonate.

From an old journal entry of mine on the matter:
Funnily, yesterday I got hit over the head with the Parvati stick. It started out as I was doing some research about her in her relationship with Shiva and it was just really resonating with me. I had long since longed to have a kitchen witch patron, none of the hearth goddesses I knew about (Hestia, Frigga, Bridget, etc.) ever really resonated with me which was a complete bummer since so much of what I do is housewifery, so you can imagine how excited I was to learn that there is a Divine Housewife!

I spent a lot of yesterday mangling processing things through my tiny human brain. Like her story about eating only wet leaves until Shiva noticed her. My initial kneejerk reaction was a dismayed, Really Parvati? All that? Over a boy god? But then I started thinking about how hardcore it was that she was so determined to get what she wanted she wasn't going to let anybody stop her. And well I tend to be similarly bent when I get determined about something and for a woman to be determined to make her own fate, that's pretty awesome to me.

The next hurdle I had to consider was that even after she went through all that, he still tested her some more. And I was like, that's crap! And then I thought, well . . .when Mr. Gray did it to Leigh in Secretary (. . .look, I told you that this would be a mangled process), I totally cosigned on that! Even when I was watching it with other kinked people who were all, that's a bit much. I thought to myself, not really . . .So if I think about it like that, it makes sense to me.

And then I started think about their marriage and how much I dig it. I have always been a proponent of having one's own life, and there's nothing like having eons without someone to make sure you're taking care of your own shit. And when you get back together . . .:: swoony sigh:: For this aspect, I thought a lot about my relationship with J. And Parvati sometimes gets aggravated with Shiva so again, click.


******

Reasons to Like Parvati:

1. She has realistic expectations of how neat one's house can be when you are living with a cremation grounds spouse who brings home his cremation ground friends and you have kids.

2. She is super super determined. If she wants something to happen, it's going to happen. What? You don't love me? That's cool. I'ma sit here UNTIL I MAKE YOU WITH MY SHEER FORCE OF WILL.

3. She is v. kind and v. nice about whatever efforts you make to do nice things for her.

4. She has her own life and her own shit to do.

5. She is not a surrendered housewife. She is not afraid to start shit with Shiva or yell back.

6. She enjoys sex! And a happy marriage! And motherhood!

7. Shiva's main thing is "being", her main thing is "doing". She is definitely inspiring to get your ass in gear to do.

***

If you would like to start honoring Parvati in your life, puja is the best way to do that.

A v. basic puja requires:

* a v. small clay bowl
* A picture of Parvati
* Kumkum powder
* Ghee
* A bell
* Sweets
* Cotton wicks
* Incense

1. Starting facing the picture of Parvati, turn in a circle clockwise, clapping your hands eight times for the eight directions.

2. Ring bell.

3. Thank Ganesha for being awesome (he always comes first).

4. Soak your wick in some ghee in the clay bowl. When lighting it, thank Agni for being fire and acting as the gate keeper.

5. Tell Parvati about the sweets and incense you got her. Tell her how awesome she is. Tell her why you want to work with her. Ask for her help, etc. Make sure to light the incense.

6. Put some kumkum powder on the picture (on her head and feet) and then take a little off the picture and put it in your hair.

7. Thank Ganesha for his presence. Thank Agni for his presence. Thank Parvati for her presence.

7. Ring the bell.

8. Clap your hands in a circle clockwise in all eight directions.

9. SUPER IMPORTANT!!! You *MUST* eat some of the food you gave them or they will think you gave them crappy food. If you give flowers, some flowers must be given to others, etc.

Recipe Monday: There are only two great foes to successful meal planning - Monotony and Fear.

So, my sister just had her baby boy (Logan Robert), Thanksgiving was had, job was mostly finished though I will be working a shift this week and hopefully having holiday lunch this week. Of course, that means that I'm exhausted, fibromyalgia flared up and have a cold.

So that means, Retro Recipe Monday! The line from the title comes from the book to give you a peek into what we're getting ourselves into. The book is called The General Foods Kitchens Cookbook (published: 1959) and has exciting subchapters like "When you have a maid. (with a silent understood) Bitch.", "Pamela's dieting again.", Saved by a salad! (subtitled: Is your husband clutching his chest a lot?) and "Good grief, we'll never get the yearbook out!"

Pros: They address possibly living alone (though there's the silent understood that you better be an old maid or a widow and not a slutty divorcee, Missy!) and that you may be a working gal (with the silent understood that you better get your ass into the kitchen because that dinner isn't making itself and it's not your husband's fault you can't be satisfied with the spending money he gives you), the fifties is actually when global cuisine started being brought into middle class homes so there's recipes for curry, lasagna (we were still ethnic then boys and girls!), sukiyaki, etc. which is cool and the best part imo is that there's a can do spirit about it. I know that's a complaint of the time but I *like* that they're like hokay, you need to make a wedding dinner including a wedding cake? You can do this, Sheila. Let's get organized. For all the unintentional irony and pre-second wave lack of choice, there's a very no nonsense let's get this done vibe and covers like every possible culinary emergency you can think of. Having just picked this book up for the first time in a while, I realize my Kitchen Witch outline unconsciously follows this outline with an updated modern spirit.

Cons: Oh lordess, where to start? Okay. The drawings of "ethnic" people are pretty bad (for the Southern cooking there's a "Mamee" style drawing to give you a taste), when shit goes wrong and/or your family is being mulish about trying new food, guess whose fault that is? The pictures, oh god the color photos of some of these horrors. And of course that the "ethnic" food is whatever is the most Americanized version of what that ethnicity has to offer.

Onto the recipe! If you get brave and make it yourself, you get a guest blog spot here. Pics or it never happened!

Glazed Pate

1 cup chicken liver pate
1 1/3 cups condensed beef consomme
1/2 cup water
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
Dash of pepper
1 package (3 oz) Jell-O Lemon Gelatin Dessert
2 tablespoons sauterne wine
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon tarragon vinegar
Stuffed olives, thinly sliced (optional)

Pack the chicken liver pate in a buttered mold and chill. Combine consomme, water, bay leaf, salt and pepper in a saucepan. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Then remove bay leaf and dissolve the gelatin in hot liquid. Add sauterne, lemon juice and vinegar. Chill mixture until syrupy.

Then unmold pate, garnish with olive slices if desired and pour on a thin layer of the gelatin mixture (if gelatin mixture becomes too firm to pour, let stand over hot water for a few minutes to soften). Chill until almost firm. Pour a second layer over pate. Chill again until almost firm. Add a third layer; chill until set. Makes 1 cup. (Double recipe to serve 10.)

Some More Self Promotion

As some of you may know, today is my last day at work. So Etsy sales would be awesome! If you need yarn or know a knitter or crocheter, it makes an excellent holiday gift!

Between now and Cyber Monday use the code: THANKSGIVING for 20% off!

Etsy sirenecorbeau

Reader Help Requested: Mad Fat Sacks of Loot

So, as many of you know, Wednesday is my last day here at work. My company is going under and I've been here for five years. I do have a plan, my freelance writing can generate as much income as I was making here at my day job and I plan on working on book outlines (including a kitchen witchery book) and short stories and crafting/Crafting.

I don't know yet if I will be receiving severance. I would very much like to (and it is possible for a variety of reasons) as it would greatly help my transition. I've been doing my own magical work to get this, but I figure the more the merrier. I'm looking for a severance of about $3K. If you would be so kind as to say a tiny prayer to the universe/god/esses, light a candle, whatever, I would greatly appreciate it!

Recipe Monday: Retro Recipe

Already sick of my whining and complaining by week two, Jow has "suggested" I do my my recipe in advance so he doesn't have to hear it on Monday (the second part was more implied than said). It turns out he's right, I'm far more lucid to write this on a Saturday afternoon and it's easier for me to use a retro recipe this way.

You have to be a certain kind of person to get why I love retro recipes. As it was essentially stated in So I Married an Axe Murderer (though about Scottish food), old recipes seem like they were made on a dare. And I kind of love that. Like my mom and sis are totally not into food and it's sort of an inherent disconnect between us. How can you not love food? How can you not be interested in trying everything possible? My stance on trying food started in college when things were rarely labeled in the dining hall. People would ask what I was eating and my response was always, "I have no idea, I'm eating it anyway."

Today's Retro Recipe comes from the illustrious Cooking for Company Edited by Nell B. Nichols in 1968. Get excited if you buy this book because it comes with 16 color recipes! That is seriously a selling point on the book jacket.

If anyone makes this, I want a review and pictures. It goes with my weeknight dinner theme, get pumped to make a:

Potato-Wiener Supper
Potatoes and hot dogs in a new dish sure to please the young guests

2 (12 oz.) pkgs. frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed
1 (3 1/2 oz) can fried onion rings
1/2 c. butter or margarine, melted
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 can condense cream of celery soup
1 (1 lb) pkg. all meat wieners

* Combine potatoes, crumbled onion rings, reserving a few rings for topping, butter, salt and pepper into a casserole. Mix celery soup with 1 can water. Pour about three fourths of the soup over potato mixture and mix thoroughly.
* Cut wieners in halves and arrange on top of casserole. Top with a few onion rings and pour on remaining soup.
* Bake in a moderate over (375 degrees) 25 minutes. Makes 6 servings.

New Article on WitchVox

Probably not as exciting to my regular readers, but regular readers, what you see here is a raw version of whatever I'm writing about, when I send it over to WitchVox it gets edited and I add points to the article, etc. Here's the article (Hi WitchDoctorJoe! We're sharing a page!).

I have my Recipe Monday article pre-queued, so expect to see that bright and early tomorrow.

For my new readers, a glimpse into what you're getting yourself into. Right now I'm working on title editing and listening to Repo: The Genetic Opera, which I somehow never get sick of. I'm not a huge movie fan, but when I like something, I like it forever. My like it forever movies include:

* The Craft (your judgement tastes delicious)

* Dream for an Insomniac

* Jennifer' Body (which I've watched with my bff approximately nine billion times. When we're down we fb message each other, Where's it at, Monostat?)

* Empire Records

* Clueless

* Legally Blond

* Ginger Snaps

* St. Trinian's

* Secretary


As a Crowgirl, if someone's putting on a show, I'm going to watch it. It's why I watch an omg amount of reality tv and teen drama along with criminal procedures on TV.

Dubious Kitchen Witch Street Cred: Ummm, I have a tendency to vomit out personal issues and magical solutions typically done in a TopChef/Project Runway (look, I wasn't kidding) What-Do-You-Have-In-The-House-Great-Make-It-Work sort of manner. I have roots in shamanism, Hinduism in a Pagan context, Dianic Wicca, ADF Druidry, Yoruba and hoodoo, so I'm a complete dilettante and v. unapologetic about it. I don't have a Miss Martha neat house, I have two cats that vomit and shed a lot and my cooking is generally not gourmet. I live with Jow who actually reads magical books* and has a respectable practice, so we like to butt heads about the details. But I can put together spells on the fly, let people cry/vomit into my apron, throw a bridal shower, baby shower, a funeral repast, Thanksgiving and a Samhain feast for 50 and I can generally use my common sense to help people figure out how to conduct themselves and/or when they're being an ass.

* So much that apparently ADF figured out how to get money out of him for the rest of his life, they sent him books with his membership. Back in the day when I first joined, I got a tiny card and a slap on the ass. *Humph!*

Etiquette Lesson: Maintaining One's Boundaries

In this modern first world life, boundaries are a constant hot button issue – the friend who calls at 3a on the regular crying about her messy love life, the mother in law who wants to be a little too involved in your life, your sister constantly claiming she just wants to do one thing like go to the doctor’s with the lure of hearing the baby’s heart beat and then ropes you into going on two or three errands after.

Okay, the last one is totally my problem. But, boundaries are a big issue because it requires a lot of balance, some quid quo pro and not getting bogged down by feelings.

Because humans aren’t exactly known in general for our awesome Vulcan like tendencies as a whole, you likely go one of two ways: You are *so* conscious of your boundaries and policing them that you likely push people away or you are a people pleaser and find yourself getting steamrolled on the regular.

Are you a policer?

· Do people say they have a hard time getting close to you?
· If someone says something that doesn’t jive with your boundaries, do you need to correct that person immediately, even if it makes the conversation awkward or becomes an argument?
· Would you rather have your boundaries intact, even at the cost of making a new friend?

Are you a people pleaser?

· Do you feel like people don’t respect your time and/or space?
· Do you find yourself doing things that go against the boundaries you would prefer to have with loved ones regularly?
· Do you find that you have too many loved ones and it’s difficult to keep up with their demands?

It’s okay to be either a Policer or a People Pleaser, you're going to have a tendency towards one or the other. But if you want to maintain boundaries while still being open enough to allow loved ones in, striking a balance is key. You are going to often fail at this miserably because, again, you’re a human and not a Vulcan. The trick, as the lifehackers are fond of saying lately, is to fail better regularly and to be conscious of how you tend to be and to be conscious about trying to strike a balance.


People Pleaser Points to Ponder

If you know you’re a people pleaser, it is vital for you to do some hacking and slashing in your life. Are you part of any organizations that you’re only lukewarm about, but they take up a lot of your time and energy? They’ve got to go. Do you have any loved ones who are terrible about the 80/20 rule? Sometimes. . . .it’s not as easy to just cut them out of your life for a whole mess of reasons.

But, with people like casual acquaintances, if you can, start gently removing yourself from their lives. For me, I got rid of a lot of Facebook friends who are not actively a part of my life and who I’ve fallen out of touch with and who never bring anything to my life. I don’t have all day. There’s been a couple acquaintances who I didn’t not like but didn’t really enjoy their company either on the occasions I saw them. Generally, on the occasion I would see these acquaintances, I couldn’t do the things I enjoyed; they were preventing me from seeing people that day whose company I genuinely enjoy or from doing things at home I genuinely enjoy. I stopped returning calls, unfriended them on Facebook, etc. Doing this really helped me regain control of my life and helped me focus on what was important to me; working on writing, spending time with my loved ones, crafting/Crafting, etc., etc. At the end of the day, remember, you’re steering your boat and you get to decide how your time is spent.

Caveats:

However, just because you’re steering the boat doesn’t mean you’re not going to get stuck doing things you don’t want to do. I wanted to go to a whole cavalcade of weddings this summer/fall about as much as I wanted to eat my own eyeballs. I wanted even less to be a bridesmaid several times over. Being in charge of your life doesn’t mean that maaaaaaaaagically everyone will be doing everything in a convenient manner.

But ask yourself these questions: While the person(s) are currently being a colossal pain in your ass for whatever reason (personal problems, wedding, moving, etc.), are they generally? Do you love them? Do they do right by you most of the time? If your answer is yes, sorry Charlie, sometimes we all have to suck it up and do shit we don’t want to do so be a good pony and put a smile on your face and put on that damn coral dress because they’d do it for you. Quid quo pro, Clarice, it’s called being an adult. And remember! You’re not a joy all the time either. I highly doubt my complete divorce related break down was convenient or fun for anyone, but they were all there for me, so I am there for them.

You can’t always get rid of people, even when you’d like to. Mother in laws, friends of friends, significant other’s friends, whatever. There are people who we are obligated to whether we like it or not. I find a few things help in this kind of situation.

1. Gently, but firmly assert your boundaries. Be a broken record. If you said you could only be there until 6p, leave at 6p. If s/he is complaining that you don’t spend enough time, aren’t a good cook, whatever, say something along the lines of, “I’m sorry I don’t have more time/aren’t a better cook/hate cats/whatever, but I have a deadline on this project/it isn’t a priority for me/ have allergies.” Then change the subject. Lather, rinse, maim as much as necessary on repeating that phrase gently but firmly.

2. If you can’t handle dealing with them at that moment, don’t pick up the phone, don’t return the text, don’t return the email.

3. When you are obligated to do something you don’t want to do or spend time with someone you don’t want to spend time with and there’s no escape, the best thing to do is to just throw yourself into the experience as much as possible. Have as much fun as possible, make the other person have as much fun as possible. Just open your heart and open yourself up to the possibility of it potentially being a good time. Don’t let petty bullshit get you down, use step 1. and just rock out. Worst case, you’ll be home in a couple hours/days/weeks and you can go back to business as usual.

4. If it’s an awful situation you can’t make better but are forced to endure, I suggest keeping a bottle of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s Scare Crow on you in your pocket or purse at all times. You may not care for the smell, but that’s sort of the point. Scare Crows are meant to keep things out, it’s formulated to act as a magical repellent. I’ve used it as such before. Dab it on when you want to keep people away from you.

As I am not personally a Policer and this post has gotten far longer than I had intended, Policers! What do you suggest for other fellow Policers to do to help let people in while still maintaining boundaries? What tips and tricks do you have to strike a balance?

Recipe Mondays: Roasted Chicken Dinner/ Goddess Devotional

Never let it be said that I don't love my readers like whoa, because I do. It's why I'm doing this gods forsaken weekly recipe. It's good for me, it keeps me honest, it keeps me blogging, but I'm not going to lie. I'm haaaaaaaaaaating this. I picked Monday on purpose, kick start my week and all but lordess, my head is hurting like whoa. This change in barometric pressure is for the birds.

Which brings me to what we'll be cooking, a full chicken. Now, that sounds contrary to what I've said, that this stuff I'm posting is not a pain in the ass to make and is a week day dinner, right? But I do roast a whole chicken on a week night. Darlings, roasting is your friend. It's even lazier than crockpotting in my opinion. I got a whole five pound organic chicken for like $6 at my grocery store, which is a huge steal. It was dinner for Jow and I one night, lunch for Jow for the week and then I used the bones and such for stock. Cooking a whole chicken is super easy and super frugal. It can be used as a devotion to the Goddess too. You can pick a particular goddess if you like, but my lazy Reclaimist roots are showing here, you can do the heavy lifting on your own, sport. The way this ritual is set up is so that as you are infusing your chicken, when you eat it, you will be likewise infused. Usually I don't taste it when poultry is stuffed with something, but I definitely do with this recipe.

Roasted Chicken Dinner For Goddesses and Mortals Alike

1 Whole 3-5 pound chicken completely defrosted, ideally room temperature
1/2 bunch of tyme
1/2 lemon
1 head of garlic, cut in half (NOT peeled or anything)
1 container of fresh brussel sprouts (or some other roastable vegetable, I won't tell the kitchen police on you)
1 packet of powder chicken gravy
2 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Roasting pan
1 white candle

Take three deep breaths to focus. As you are lighting the candle say, "Great Goddess please bless me with your presence here in my hearth." Or whatever you like, again, I'm not the kitchen/Goddess police.

Preheat your oven to 425. Take your chicken out of the package and remove any plastic that's on your chicken (holding the legs together or whatever). Now, this is where you're going to get reeeeally close to your chicken. The cavity is located between its legs. You're going to take off whatever jewelry you have on your hand and wrist and reach into that cavity and pull out whatever treats they've stuffed in there for you (probably the neck and the gizzards) and pull them out. You can do whatever you like with them, I usually toss them.

Feeling close to your chicken? Good. Now you are going to loosen the skin by the cavity so that the skin is not attached to the meat on the top of the breast and bottom of the chicken. You're going to carefully stuff about half a teaspoon of butter in between the skin and the meat on each side without ripping the skin. I'm lazy and can never find my pastry brush, so I rub butter with my fingers all over the chicken. Use as little or as much as you want. Go crazy.

Wash your hands with soap and concentrate on making it a little hand washing purification to the Goddess. You can put a little table salt in your hands while you're washing them to make that so.

Take your thyme and run it over the candle. Touch the thyme to your heart and say, "Great Goddess, beautifully crowned, keep my home safe and sound. Make me strong, keep me from doing what's wrong."

Put it inside the cavity.

Take your garlic halves and run them over the candle. Touch the garlic halves to your heart and say, "Great Goddess, shining bright, help me fight the good fight."

Put it inside the cavity.

Take your lemon half and run them over the candle. Touch the lemon half to your heart and say, "Great Goddess above, infuse me with your love."

Put it inside the cavity.

Say, "By the power of three times three, so I will it so mote it be."

Put the chicken into your roasting pan. Try to tuck the wings under as best as you can. Trim your brussel sprouts and surround the chicken with them. Cook for one hour, but make sure the juices run clear. Fish out brussel sprouts. Carve in the roasting pan if possible, so you have the juices. Remove chicken pieces and carcass (with the stuffed ingredients) from the pan. Add the chicken gravy powder and about half a cup of water. Stir until not lumpy. Pour into a gravy boat. Microwave for one minute.

Put the carcass and items inside the carcass into your crock pot. Add whatever odds and ends you have in your fridge - limp parsley, old carrots that haven't gone off yet, celery that's lying around not doing anything, etc. No chopping is needed. Fill the crockpot with water. Cook on low until morning. Strain. Then put the stock into very small tupperware containers so that it's easily accessible and defrostable. Freeze.

After you're done cooking, either let the candle burn out by itself or extinguish with a candle snuffer saying, "Great Goddess, I thank you for your presence."

Dinner is served. I made stove top stuffing to go with it because it's super easy, you can do whatever you want.

Magical property information came from A Compendium of Herbal Magick.

Etiquette Lesson

I would like to do another Etiquette lesson here. Is there anything in particular you would like to learn about in terms of my opinion on deportment in a particular area?

On Samhain, Drawing Down and The Morrigan, Namely Nemain

Maybe it's just gone out of fashion, but no one seems to talk about Drawing Down anymore. Is it too touchy-feely? Too difficult to validate? Not a srs magikal practice? I think it's actually a strange middle place - it's something that requires a lot of time and energy and attention and will kick your ass, which makes it difficult for your average kitchen witch to do, as s/he has enough to deal with in working, keeping house and keeping the children from getting too Lord of the Flies-ish. I think there's a certain sheen of Reclaimist that makes a lot of srs practitioners turn their noses up and/or they've got better things to do like meditate towards enlightenment instead of basically wandering around god-drunk, which is frowned up.

Luckily for you, (I have no problem looking completely batshit crazy to you, darling readers AND I'm in some weird holding pattern between frantic kitchen witch (I have no children and don't work for a big corporation or anything) and srs practitioner (we all know how I feel about meditation).

An ADF druidic ritual is celebatory, at least the way GoG does it. There's a basic frame work that all ADF rituals need to follow, but there's a lot of room to turn it on its head. My grove is one of the largest in the country and our rituals tend to be . . .different than most ADF rits. We're sort of the backwater snake handlers of the group. We're called Grove of the Other Gods for a reason, after all.

So we've now laid the ground work: this is a celebratory ritual where we are honoring our kindred and a guest of honor (in this case, The Morrigan) and no targeted magic is done. I like a good beer buzz early in the morning as Sheryl would say and have enough time and energy to prepare for a drawing down while also having no shame or filter to keep me from sharing my experiences with you. It's the perfect storm really.

I demurred about the likeliness of drawing down to Jow, but I think in the back of my head I knew that as soon as I got close to the other two chicks (which was strange for GoG, we don't gender police by any stretch, but that's who was interested in the other two aspects) at the rit, it was going to be on.

Jow wrote up his experience with GoG Samhain as a congregant.

Before getting there, I was more . . .lightly shadowed. Usually I'd be a completely anxious mess beforehand for a variety of reasons, but when I would start to get nervous, she had a calm answer (Oh! My pumpkin is v. roasted! It may fall apart! *fret* She: You're worried that your food looks like food?). She understood the need to look just so and was fine with things like makeup (woade correspondence), bra (armour correspondence), etc. but everything needed to be useful, everything needed to have a purpose. And I was at first confused about her OCD like need for cleanliness (clothes constantly lint brushed, washing my hands as much as Lady MacBeth, etc.) because I was like, ummm warrior Goddess? Blood, gore, etc? And then I remembered Her main job - washing the blood out of the clothes of people who were about to die in battle. Right then.

The cats were really confusing and slightly disgusting to Her as they seemed to serve no purpose- they don't catch mice, they live inside and all they seemed to do was shed and vomit. She was somewhat mollified when She was told that they were both gifts at one point and while she was confused that someone would be given something that was a lot of work and served no purpose to show appreciation, a gift was a gift after all.

Once we got there, K., who was invoking Macha came shortly after. I had intentionally put the aspects of The Morrigan as v. separate entities in my head, and the slidy thing that some deities that aren't quite separate from each other was a v. intellectual vague concept in my head. Until we slowly and unconsciously sliding energy between each other. K. and I are friendly, but not close friends, so it was a v. strange experience. Stranger still that I felt literally sick without P. who would be invoking Badb. I like P., she's cool people too, but I am no where anywhere *near* being close enough to her to feel sick without her. But I was. In my head was a constant fret of, When will P. get here, when will P. get here?

I knew K. and I were getting really slidy when I tried to walk through the door with her at the same time and nearly busted ass in the process. She did my makeup in the picture above while we waited for P. I've always wanted really hardcore gothity eyes but whenever I would try to do it myself for a club night, I would fuck it up. Luckily, K. is an artist so she had a v. good hand.

Finally P. got there and K. and I slowly started to synch up with her too. We were literally laughing and braiding each other's hair which seemed to creep everyone else out. In fact, most people gave us a wide berth and would not make eye contact with us.

All our SOs made grumbling noises about what pains in the ass we were that day, and commiserated together which they seemed to enjoy.

We sat down for the ritual, and poor K. got stuck on the other side of the room (after rit, she beelined for P. and I because she was getting nauseous without us). P. sat next to me and had her iPod in her ear, full of awesome Celtic music. Like school girls, we listened together through the other ritual invocations, one headphone in each of our ears, as we swayed in time to the music as we watched the ritual.

Jow said when I invoked, it was somehow less scary then when I was sitting quietly. When I was sitting quietly, apparently I had a v. feral air about me, my eyes were constantly darting all over, taking in the room. When I was invoking, I read what I had written and focused on that.

I had never been to a GoG Samhain like that. Even on the not sad years, it seems impossible to not slide into the river of sadness, at least for a moment. It's the first Samhain where . . .we didn't slide. Not for a moment. After the ritual, when we read the Book of (our) Dead, there were tears which was natural. Our senior druid was what we call "DiC'ing" (Druid in Charging) which means she acts as the priestess of the rit and keeps it going and steers it. She said when there were points where it could have gone to sad, we all collectively would say, No! That happened, goddamnit! Which has become my unofficial motto, btw. All of the invocations came from a place of power and it was amazing and beautiful and gorgeous and there was not one dud among them. When we could have gotten sad, we reached down and pulled up our power and drew from that. It was punk rock and amazing.

As for, P., K. and me, our invocations slide together just so and it was perfect, in my v. biased opinion.

In our rituals, we try to keep the pathway of communication two way. We speak by giving the ritual and then we ask for the gods to speak back by giving us an omen. Did They like it? Is there anything they need to tell us for the upcoming future? We used The Celtic Book of the Dead: A Guide for Your Voyage to the Celtic Otherworld deck and apparently, there are some really really nasty cards in there. We got one of the most positive possible readings from it. Judging by the cards, it meant one (or more of the following)

a) Hey! Good job! We dug it!
b) Hey little boys and girls, don't be afraid of us, we can give you nice things. Come inside, we have cookies . . .
c) Liked this rit? Perhaps you would like to join grove in honoring another one of our fam, Mananon next week!

Even though we aren't really super close, after rit, P., K. and I started speaking in unison and laughing at things that were only funny to us. We went outside and opened the bottle of Warrior's Port with a Bean Sidhe cry between the three of us and started slugging straight from the bottle, laughing and doing that thing that only a group of three sisters/best friends can do - when you're teasing the hell out of each other, two ganging up on one and then flipping the table and ganging up on the other. Mostly bawdy stuff, mostly sister teasing. A little friendly sisterly pushing and shoving. Again, no one wanted to get close to us and one gentleman who we're all friendly with, flinched when we noticed him and called him to stand by us. He would not make eye contact. Jow tried to feed me. My reaction: Ew! Food! Gross! P&K: Ew! A boy! Gross! He scurried back inside as quickly as possible.

P's gf, T. was the only one who wanted to put up with us and found much of what we said hilarious (K: More yelling! Me/Nemain: No! Norma, the woman who lives here will be v. cross with us! It's already been thirteen years since we've been invited back! T. (amused): Norma, who lives here? Me/Nemain: It's true, she does.)

Norma lured us back to the group in the backyard by showing the lamb she got for The Morrigan which was put in the fire as a burnt offering.

Usually, Norma is trying to lure me out for the midnight pumpkin parade (we . . .do what we do, it's a college town) but this year, P. and I were not allowed out, K. was only going to be allowed out without us. K. didn't want to be too far from us, so she stayed. We made sure to tell that loudly and indigently to anyone who would listen that we were not allowed out to play because they kept thinking we'd start *fights*. A few people stayed behind to mind us and we had a super fun time throwing cream puffs into cleavage.

After that, it was sorrowfully decided that we needed to eat. Food tasted awful, I really wanted a bloody piece of meat but there wasn't any to be had at grove, but pork was good enough. We complained that there was only one bottle of wine to be had between the three of us for SOME reason.

And we all slowly slid back, K. whispering in my ear you're on your own now as she squeezed my arm.

I felt bereft after, like I was missing 2/3 of myself, edgy and unhappy. It was difficult, making the transition, losing not just Nemain, but Macha and Badb too. I took some pictures and washed the make up off my face and got into comfy clothes. I went to sleep.

The next day I felt more myself again, we went to Skylark for brunch and I thanked Nemain by cleaning my house thoroughly. I was myself again, though perhaps missing two (small) pieces of me I haven't seen.

God drunk is awesome, the hangover is awful, but still, once in a while, it's empowering to remember what it's like to fly so close to the sun.

Recipe Mondays: 30 Minute Puja Dinner

Predictably, Monday has rolled around and my exact thought is: Monday . . .fuuuuuuuuuuck . . .recipes . . .fuuuuuuuuuuck. My brain is barely working from Samhain, I'm tired, it's cold. So guess what you're eating? What I'm eating tonight. The first thing to note is that if you want to make Indian food using stuff you can easily get at a grocery store and quickly without much recipe research, you're basically making Olive Garden for the gods. If your gods love you, this will not be a problem. It's double not a problem if you work with Shiva (who generally hangs out in grave yards so He's a little more chillaxed about this stuff) and Parvati (who, if you have a relationship with Her, will be too kind and polite to say anything about your shitty cooking. She has two sons, She knows how to put on Her Mom face and say, awww! You sure did try!). I've noticed that They prefer my shitty Indian cooking over my good Italian cooking because I think at least it's more familiar to them.

Work on making this recipe together with your significant other and then offer it to Shiva and Parvati. Jow is an excellent sous chef and is v. good about taking my lead in the kitchen. I'm a v. shitty sous chef, I don't chop well and I don't take instruction in the kitchen well, but I'm good at coming up with recipes and leading the cooking. As a result, we work v. well together there and our food is ready quickly.

If you want to do a super quick puja (again, I recommend this only if you're doing other stuff with Them too as this is really ghettotastic):

* Tell Ganesha he is a benevolent elephant and he's awesome
* Light a tealight and thank Agni for the fire
* Ring a bell
* Put a tiny ramekin sized bit of food for Them on your altar
* Talk up the food like a waitress (I've said for a while that that's what I want my magical title to be, Divine Waitress)
* Tell Them how awesome both of Them are
* Ask for Them to help you have a good relationship with your significant other (and again, that's only if you work with Them and trust Them in this compacity. I do, They've been good to Jow and I)
* Ring bell again
* Eat dinner


Chicken Lentil Curry: Lazy American Style

Ingredients

1 can or box of lentil soup
2 chicken thighs, cut into pieces. Leave the skin on or take it off, it's your business
2 small onions, chopped
2 teaspoons ghee or butter
2 tablespoons curry (or to taste)
1 tablespoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon tumeric
1 pouch instant rice (take it out of the pouch to put into the soup)

Put butter into the pot and melt it on medium heat. Put the onions and chicken in and brown. Add in the the rest of the ingredients. Let cook for approximately 20 minutes.

Fin!

Shameless Self Promotion

But first, a shameful confession. After much vitriol towards Timothy Ferris, I have realized that I use Etsy Alchemy as my first world sweat shop for stuff I probably could make myself, but am too lazy to. The trick to utilizing this properly (and to max the sliminess) is to set a price you can reasonably pay for something but not crazy below market value. Then you weed through the bids to find the people who are really good seamstresses (judging by their shops), jewelers, etc. but have not yet made many if any sales yet. They are willing to work for a lower price for you so they can start to make their name. The goal is to catch people who are *just* about to make it but haven't yet. I outsourced a capelet for a song made by a Jersey woman who specializes in jersey (fo' real!) and am currently in process outsourcing a set of cocktail party invitations for the party Miss Spice and I are having for our coterie at Arisia and having the designer in question not only make the invitations, but address them and mail them for about $20.

Here is the justification for those of you who need it like me: These people bid of their own free will and it's supporting small businesses/cottage industry and helping people make a name for themselves. So it's good, really!

Some of you may not know this, but handspinning yarn is currently my drug of choice. I'm hoping to graduate to an actual wheel in the next few months. Let's stretch things and say, yarn is magical. It's not really a stretch, actually. The Fates spun and did some bad ass magic with it. Spinning is meditative, one could definitely put intention into yarn. Yarn is often used in "low" magic for binding and making small dolls and tying off mojo bags.

Should you not need a whole skein of yarn but are interested in using yarn in your magic, I will hand dye one ounce of yarn in your color of choice, use 100% wool and can spin it with a general intention (to be approved by me of course) for your use for $8 USD. The transaction will go through Etsy using Paypal. If you're interested, drop me a comment. If you want a private discussion about it, email me at corvaxgirl [at] gmail [dottie] com with the subject line, "Charmed, I'm Sure: Yarn".

For those of you who perhaps crochet or knit or are just curious about my work, here it is:

Etsy sirenecorbeau

You like me, you really do!

So I now have 100 blogger readers in addition to the google readers, lj readers, etc.

Hi everyone! I'm happy you're all here. A little puzzled and nervous, but happy nonetheless.

So, overwhelmingly, many of you wanted to see recipes here. Something to do with this is a kitchen witch blog I suppose.

My recipes will likely fall into the following categories:

* Aspic is Your Friend: I have a total vintage cookbook fetish and no one in my real life will humor me with allowing me to throw an actual Mad Men cocktail party with as much aspic as possible. You all will be subjected to this in their stead.

* Magical Weekday Recipes: Recipes you can make in under an hour (closer to 30 minutes ideally), on a budget, using regular ingredients that have a magical kick to them. This will be a lot of work, so probably seen less.

* Wheel of the Year Turn, Turn, Turn: Sabbat, full moon and other ritual recipes and tips that are appropriate to the season.

I will start posting this weekly on Mondays. We'll call it the completely creative Recipe Mondays.

Hmmmm.

Most kitchen witch blogs have some kind of weekly feature, Wishing Wednesdays, networking days, giveaways . . .

I feel like I should have something, as I want to fit in (albeit I'm generally more surly than my better dispositioned kitchen brethren).

What would you like to see as a weekly feature for my blog?

Bean Nighe

This Samhain is particularly significant to my grove as it will be the last one our Senior Druid is heading. She's headed the last 13 and is ready for a break from that part of Senior Druid'ing at least. She started with The Morrigan her first Samhain that she led and is ending with The Morrigan. In addition to bringing my usual stuffed pumpkin, I have been asked to invoke Nemain, the bean nighe warrior maiden aspect of The Morrigan.

The Morrigan has been explained to me as being similiar to Cernunnos in so far as it's not that The Morrigan is one deity/person or even a triple aspected deity/person, it's a job title. So it's more like a bunch of women who work for MorriganCo. which is a little difficult for me to wrap my head around but makes sense.

There's been a poem/invocation in my head for the last few weeks for the Nemain. Going with the idea of MorriganCo, all of the things "she said" were said to me by different "shes", and the last three paragraphs are what my Nemain faction has said to me. I will be doing a small altar for her as well, she's requested the picture I like of her and warrior port which is simple enough.

Nemain

She appeared to me in a dream
She said
Her face a canvas of wode
She handed me a feather
and told me to give it to you
She said you'd know what it meant

Whenever there is a battlefield
She is there
She said
When you are able to put your hands
into the river of black oozing sorrow
and not fall in
Instead grow a pair of wings
like hers
that will hold you up
when you can't stand
and make your spine a thing
of steel
that's when you've won

I know you said this is the
worst day of your life
since daddy died
She said
But
It got better

Each day a little at a time
She said
Moment by moment
Breath by breath
She said

I'm proud of you
She said

It's impressive
How much you've
Metamorphosized
Became you
But better
Unfettered
She said

Stand your ground
Dig your heels into
the mud slick with blood
and battle
Whispered words do more than
swords most days

Never give up your power
Steal it back
Eat it whole

But don't mistake your power
as freedom from the river
Your wailing and tears
Crimson soaked cloth in hand
Some things can't be forgotten.