Blessed Yule

Busy Bee

I have been busy lately, still am actually.

The rebuilding downstairs makes progress again, finally. The walls are plastered in soft yellow, Havana Nuance Yellow to be precise. I love it! It looks great. Wanna see? (page 42/43, click under pic).

In the meantime a nasty flu got the better of me. I felt awful, tired, really sick. Last week I finally got well again, although I'm not too fit yet. A lot of people were surprised by this flu; Ron was, my mum and several others.

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Like I wrote before the busier time in the spiritual sphere has come too.

On November 6th I had a Samhain meeting with several witches from a pagan e-mail list. I was a bit nervous, hadn't met any of them before. No need though, it was a very nice group of people and we had a great day. We visited the Melchizedek Global Healing Circle that was nearby. I had a special sensation between two trees there; I could talk to my dad, who deceased in 1996, and I heard him answer. He is always with me (one of my spiritual guides), but this time it felt more deeply. I had to cry, out of happiness... I still miss my dad every day.

On November 7th we celebrated the first anniversary of the Witches Of The Rose. We went for a walk in the dunes and found a lovely place for our ritual. One of the girls shared some joyful news: she is pregnant! She did a fertility ritual several months ago. It worked super: she is expecting twins! We have adapted our Midwinter plans and celebrate Yule this coming weekend at her place.

On a shopping spree I found my pendulum! I used a copper one before, but it never really felt good enough. Now I have one of silver and hematite with an engraved pentagram. I have worn it in my bra for a few days to give my personal energy to it. I don't use a pendulum very often, but I'm happy to have found the right one for me. I also bought a new date book for 2005. This year I used Llewellyn's Witches' Datebook, for next year I have the We'Moon Sacred Paths Datebook.

November 27th there was a Full Moon meeting of Merry Meet (who also organize the witches' cafe) in Amsterdam. I attended a workshop on Druidism that was given by Torc (Dutch/English weblog). It was very interesting! After he told us about Druidism and the OBOD, we did a beautiful meditation. Afterwards we held hands and passed the energy. I picked up some energy and it made me feel better. In the evening we did a ritual in the Westerpark. Another wonderful experience!

Wow

I rarely post quizzes in this journal, but this one fits right in...

You Are From the Moon

You can vibe with the steady rhythms of the Moon. You're in touch with your emotions and intuition. You possess a great, unmatched imagination - and an infinite memory. Ultra-sensitive, you feel at home anywhere (or with anyone). A total healer, you light the way in the dark for many.

What Planet Are You From?

Religion & Murder

I'm shocked... A Dutch film director is killed because of his opinion about religions.

He wasn't my favourite, I didn't even like him or his opinions.
But this is the limit... beyond the limit and beyond me...
Murder and religion shouldn't go together like this...

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Gunman kills Dutch film director
Van Gogh directed TV series and wrote newspaper columns

Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh, who made a controversial film about Islamic culture, has been stabbed and shot dead in Amsterdam, Dutch police say. Police arrested a man in a nearby park after an exchange of gunfire.

Van Gogh, 47, had received death threats after his film Submission, on violence against women in Islamic societies, was shown on Dutch TV.
The film was made with liberal Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali refugee who fled an arranged marriage. Ayaan Hirsi Ali has been under police protection since the film was aired. She has also received death threats and has renounced the Islamic faith. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is an outspoken critic of Islam.

Eyewitnesses quoted by Radio Netherlands said Van Gogh was attacked while cycling by a man dressed in a traditional Moroccan jallaba.

Both the suspect and a policeman suffered bullet wounds and are now in hospital.

Van Gogh - who was related to the famous Dutch painter - had also been making a film about Pim Fortuyn, the populist right-wing, anti-immigration politician assassinated in May 2002.

source: BBC website
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At ease

I don't have a lot going on at the moment, but I don't really mind! I'm getting used to not having Ron around all day. He is enjoying his new job very much, but I miss him at home. Not that I'm complaining though! Our life has regained its regularity and that's good. I've done a lot lately that had to be done for a long time: sort stuff out, clean closets etc. I'm feeling more at home and at ease with myself.
The rebuilding downstairs has made a new start; I hope we can move downstairs before the end of 2004. I'm really looking forward to that. We had so many set-backs, it's about time! I have gathered all the pics (more than 300!) in an online photo-album, so people can see how far we are.

In the spiritual sphere it's a quiet time too, but a busier time is ahead. I don't do a lot besides lighting candles and other everyday-things. Last week in the Amsterdam Witches' Café we had massage for a theme. One of the regulars brought his massage-chair, so I took advantage of that by getting a wonderful massage. That was a nice treat!
The partner of one of the witches can make silver and gold jewellery. He is going to make a mould of a beautiful Spiral Goddess pendant. I'm going to order one in silver.

Muselog brought me something nice! Last week I got an e-mail from Wendy in Amsterdam, originally from America. She came across my log and decided to e-mail me. What a great surprise! So if you're reading this, Wendy: Thanks for your e-mail. I hope to meet you not too far in the future, in the Witches' Cafe or elsewhere!

On a funny note: last week I bought a pentacle pendant in a third-world shop. In the shop a lot of items are accompanied by a note with explanation. The note with my pentacle said (amongst other things) that it protects against.... witchcraft!! My friend and I laughed out loud. If only they knew... We decided not to tell them! *lol*

Thank Goddess!

Yay!!! Ron has a new job!! He is going to work for a VW-Audi cardealer/garage as head of the workshop reception. I know he has the skills and experience to make it a success. It is the job of the third interview last week. I guess the ritual I did has helped! This afternoon he'll be introduced to the colleagues and he'll start on Monday. He is a bit nervous, but that's quite normal. I'll light the green candle when he's left.

I regularly take part in rituals, meetings and the witches' cafe of Merry Meet, a pagan group from Amsterdam. For Mabon we went to the Amsterdam forest for a walk. The weather was good (the days before and after there was a lot of rain over here). We found a perfect spot (picture), where we made an all nature altar (picture). We did a simple ritual. I thanked the god and goddess on behalf of Ron and me for the new job, in words and by burying something in a special place (picture).

The Mabon ritual with the Witches of the Rose is cancelled. One of the girls got a surprise weekend-holiday to Sweden from her husband. The others and I will go for a walk in the dunes anyway and eat afterwards in the pancake restaurant nearby.

Preparing for Mabon

First a little update:
Last week (Sept. 8) I had my 36th birthday. I didn't celebrate or anything (no money), but I got some presents and a lot of cards and e-cards. I had a nice day. Unfortunately I'm not feeling too well these days, but that'll pass...
Ron hasn't got a job yet, but this Thursday he'll have a very promising 3rd job interview (the first one was right after the ritual I did for him). Fingers crossed, candle burning!

Fall Equinox / Mabon
I like fall. Getting dark earlier, the weather, the colours of nature, etc. My home is full of burning candles, it gives such a wonderful feeling. I do burn candles in the summertime, but that's different.
In a few minutes I have an online appointment (chat) with the Witches of the Rose. We are preparing for our Mabon ritual. I'm surfing the www and browsing through my own books and files to make a start.
How do you celebrate the Fall Equinox? Ritual, food, altar... whatever you want to share!

FantaMagic

Last Sunday my friend Monique treated me to a Fantasy & Magic fair called FantaMagic. It was in a big hall. There were a lot of stalls with all kinds of things that interest me: pagan shops, Lord Of The Rings, Fantasy, SF (Star Trek), etc. I had a great time! There was so much interesting stuff to see and do. Monique had her aura photo taken. At the end of the day I bought a little key ring of Bast, not too expensive and I love it!
During the day there were several performances on the podium. The Dutch Neo-Celtic band Omnia played two times. I like their music very much. If you're ever able to see or hear them, you won't regret it. Irish Dance Group "Kilkenny On Tap" did two amazing shows. It would be great to learn how to do that. There are classes in Haarlem, not too far from here; who knows, perhaps I'll give it a go.

Yay!

The ritual seems to work already. My hopes are up! Nothing final yet, but things definitely start happening!
Ron had another very interesting and positive job interview this afternoon. The company's boss called him this morning. It is a job he'd really like and a nice challenge.
He got a second call for yet another interview on Monday. Not for a specific job, but at a mediation office. The mediator found Ron's CV on the internet and seems very interested.
So... fingers crossed again! The green candle is still burning.

Job ritual

Last month Ron's boss went bankrupt due to a stupid action by the owner. It was quite a surprise and the news got even worse. He won't get much money from it. We haven't received any money since June and the reserves are going down fast... The bank is very understanding but still, the mortgage has to be paid. So he is looking very hard for a new job. No luck yet, but tonight at 8.30pm (CET) he has a very important job interview. I'm thinking about doing something while he is there. I'm looking in books, on websites, in my own archive. I still have trouble to write something from scratch, so I like to have something to begin with to make it my own eventually. Tips are welcome!

UPDATE
Well, I did it! I've kept it simple. A lot of green on the altar (cloth, candle, incense + burner, etc.) and on me. In the middle of the ritual I carved runes in the green candle and lit it. Then I wrote something down about Ron and the job, lit it with the candle and burned it in my cauldron to send it to the gods. Meanwhile I meditated on Ron and a new job, said some things aloud. I'm content. It felt good. Ron came home and told me he had a very positive feeling about this job interview. We'll see, I believe in a good outcome!

Museum of Witchcraft needs help

URGENT APPEAL ON BEHALF OF THE MUSEUM OF WITCHCRAFT

On 16th August 2004 the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle (Cornwall, UK), which holds one of the most significant Pagan and Witchcraft collections in the world, was seriously damaged by flash floods which have devastated Boscastle.
Graham King and all the Museum staff are safe. The building is still standing, but there is serious damage to the collection. We will not know the extent of this for a while yet.

The Museum is appealing for help from the Pagan community. They would like to assure all their friends and supporters that the Museum will be back.
The friends Of The Museum and the Pagan Federation Devon and Cornwall are co-ordinating the appeal for help. Two kinds of help are needed:

Donations
If you are able to send donations, please make them payable to: Pagan Federation Devon and Cornwall and send them to: PO Box 314, Exeter, EX4 6YR, UK. Please send cheques, postal orders or IMOs (not cash) and mark the envelope "Museum Of Witchcraft". All donations will be acknowledged (eventually!).

Practical help
All kinds of volunteer help will be needed to clean up, save the collection and re-build the Museum. This help will not be needed for a few days yet, but if you can help, please email your details to Crowman or Levannah . Someone will contact you when we know what is needed. We will also email updates as we get them.

Many thanks and Goddess Bless to everyone who has already been in touch to offer help and support. The Museum will not be beaten by this.

Please circulate this information as widely as you can.

Blessings of the Old Ones

Levannah Morgan and Adrian Bryn-Evans
(Friends of the Museum Of Witchcraft and Pagan Federation Devon and Cornwall)

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UPDATE Aug. 18:
Message received this morning:

"If you are passing stuff on: people can now make online or credit card donations if they wish (good for people in the US) on this website. This is the Children of Artemis site; they are working with us on this. Updates can be found here for the next few days. The museum site cannot be updated just now, due to the situation in Boscastle."

Witches of the Rose

I work solitary, but I like to have contact with other witches/pagans. I'm a member of some Dutch forums, e-mail lists and I read a lot on the WWW. Those forums organize meetings and I regularly visit the Heksencafé (Witches' Cafe) in Amsterdam and sometimes Utrecht.
On one of the forums someone asked if others wanted to meet somewhere in Amsterdam (Heksencafé didn't exist yet). As I live not that far from Amsterdam, I decided to give it a go. We met in De Roos, Centre for Creative and Spiritual Development next to the Vondelpark. We started of with 5 to 8 people (1 male), who met every few weeks. We just talked and drank tea in the sunroom. That went on for some months. Slowly only a few regulars remained. We had nice and interesting discussions.
Four of us wanted more than talking and tea so we formed our own little group. In honour of our first meeting point we decided to call ourselves "Witches of The Rose" (I use WotR for short). To keep in contact online we started a Yahoo Group. It's a closed group, but you can see a pic of the basket of roses we made for Midsummer weekend, which we celebrated with a mixture of other Pagan groups (a druid grove, a wicca coven and several others). The rituals felt great and the power was overwhelming. We had a great weekend! WotR started off almost a year ago. I won't post their names, but as we all chose an element I'll call them by theirs if I post (I am Water). We celebrated the esbats together. One of us (in turn) is the host for the meeting at her home and we mostly do self-written rituals. In the beginning a bit insecure and giggly, but the more we worked together the better it felt.
At our last gathering (Blue Moon) we talked and decided to change some things. Meeting every moon has become more difficult because of moves, work and study. So from now on we'll be a sabbath group. Our next ritual will be for Mabon. Up until now the host did most of the work in making a ritual. The others had their own input though. Next time we want to make the ritual more together, in our group chatroom and using the e-maillist. It's a challenge, but I like it! I'm doing some more research and meditation on Mabon to come up with my part.

WW: Summer

What do you like most about the summer season?
Certainly not the heat! I like nice weather, but too hot is not my cup of tea (for sure over here in The Netherlands with the high humidity). I like the summer season because it gives its own different touch to nature (as do all the seasons). People are happier, more joyful in summer.

How does weather affect your spirituality? Are you more active in the summer with pagan activities or less? Do you meditate outside or inside depending on weather?
I'm not more active on my own, and there aren't many get-togethers in summer also. If the weather allows it I love to meditate outside. If it's hot like today, I don't do anything, spiritual or other! ;-)

What's your favorite summer ritual? (Lughnasadh, Midsummer, whatever you celebrate)Midsummer / Litha is special because of the very short time of darkness that night. If I can I stay up all night and celebrate, preferably with others.