Lions to the rescue!

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) --
A 12-year-old girl who was abducted and beaten by men trying to force her into a marriage was found being guarded by three lions who apparently had chased off her captors, a policeman said Tuesday.
Read more...

Surprising huh? As Sage says in her Goddessing weblog (where I found out about this): no wonder big cats were so often associated with goddesses!

A Knock at the Duir

Life isn't easy at the moment and I was quite stressed. I started to read my favorite weblogs to get my mind off of those things. I stumbled across a beautiful presentation called "A Knock at the Duir". I have got it in my files for a long time, but forgot about it. Watching it again helped me to calm down a bit. It's very inspirational.

Workshop Phyllis Curott

In June I did an amazing workshop weekend given by Phyllis Curott. She is my favorite pagan author, so this was a great opportunity to meet her and learn from her. She was in The Netherlands to promote the Dutch translation of her third book The Love Spell. I bought it in Dutch during the weekend; she signed it, along with her first two books I brought with me. She wrote something in all three books. In the meantime I've read the book and it's great!! I'd like to read it in English too. The translation isn't bad at all, but I like to read the original.

The location of the workshop was perfect: a hostel very close to the woods. I've been there before (workshop weekend with Janet Farrar & Gavin Bone), but this time we spent much more time outside. The weather was a bit unstable, but I didn't mind.
The group was very diverse: young and old, coven witches and solitaries, beginners and advanced. Phyllis adapted to that and it became a close group working together like a charm. I have written lots and lots of pages in my paper journal, but I'll share some of it here.

A very interesting proces was something called "unnaming". It's a way of learning from nature by paying attention and use your senses. You have to describe something without using its name. In that way a tree becomes: green, tall, has branches and leaves, has roots deep into the earth, etc. In the beginning it was quite difficult, but in the end the most beautiful descriptions came out of it. This is something I'll do more often when in nature!

Saturday afternoon we spent by making journeys to find a power animal. I already did it once for myself, but this time we worked with couples. We had to find a power animal for our partner. Both journeys were wonderful. My partner found me a big and proud red deer. I found her a hawk with the help of both my familiar power animal (black panther) and the new one.

Saturday evening we did an impressive ritual. I brought my livewood staff, a Bast statue, my pendulum and some little things with me. Everyone had changed their clothes and looked special. I wore Monique's dress and felt good in it. Here's a picture of Phyllis and me. We have been chanting and dancing. The energy felt so good! And afterwards: partytime!!

All in all I learned a lot, had fun, met wonderful people... In short: a terrific weekend to look back on and enjoy for a long time!!!

Introduction

This is my first post on Blogspot, so I'll start with a little introduction:
I'm a Dutch eclectic solitary witch who likes exploring the www, meeting other pagans, learning about other paths and religions, etc. I have a LiveJournal, but I hardly use it to write about my spiritual path and every-day-life as a witch. About a year ago I started a MuseLog, a pagan journal. Unfortunately that service will stop soon, so I decided to move over to Blogspot. I'll import the Muselog-posts to this log some time today.
Tinkerbell has been my online nickname for as long as I have internet access, because I just like the little fantasy-pixie! I use that nick everywhere on the web, whether it's on a Robbie Williams forum or on any e-maillist. I like to keep things simple! ;-)
If you have questions or comments, feel free to leave a message!

14.07u: I had to do it manually and the comments are lost (I did save them on my harddisk though), but all the Muselog posts are imported!

Robbie Williams rocks Hyde Park!

Live 8 was awesome, but Rob's performance was absolutely the very best. The crowd was his, he IS a born entertainer. I know I'm biased, but not only RW-fans think so. All the newspapers and other critics agree. I couldn't watch his performance live, because we had to go to a party, but I taped 5 hours of Live 8. At least that's what I thought... Sunday morning I found out that BBC had switched from 2 to BBC 1, so I had a lot of Wimbledon and not a second of Live 8. I was soooo angry and disappointed!! But of course fans are there to help each other out and I received the performance as a file. It was GREAT. Live Aid had Freddie Mercury, Live 8 had Robbie Williams... (just one of the headlines).

Modern Witchhunt

Shocking and unbelievable, but sadly true...

**************************************
May 10, 2005 Girl, 8, 'was tortured for being witch'
By Nicola Woolcock

A Girl aged 8 was stuffed into a bag after being denounced as a witch and was moments from being drowned in a canal by her family, a court was told yesterday. She had been starved, beaten, cut with a knife and had chilli peppers rubbed in her eyes in the plot to kill her, it was said. The girl had been accused of being a witch by a boy, also 8, who was a member of her extended family in Hackney, East London.
Her ordeal went unnoticed by teachers, social workers and neighbours for 15 months, during which the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was abused almost daily, the Old Bailey was told.
Read more

Religion Quiz

You scored as Paganism. Your beliefs are most closely aligned with those of paganism, Wicca, or a similar earth-based religion. You may also follow a Native American religion.

Paganism 88%
Buddhism 71%
Hinduism 58%
Satanism 54%
Judaism 46%
Islam 46%
agnosticism 46%
Christianity 21%
atheism 17%

Which religion is the right one for you? (new version)
created with QuizFarm.com

Why.......?

This is Ukkie, our youngest cat. During the weekend she got ill, very ill. She lost her balance, didn't eat. She only wanted to be close to me, on my chest. I didn't sleep much, I wanted to be with her too. Yesterday I had to leave her with the vet for tests and observation. This afternoon I got the verdict: due to liver faillure she suffered from brain damage and there wasn't anything we could do to save her. She was lapsing into a coma, only just reacted to my voice and touch. She knew I was there and died in my arms.......

Ukkie
May 29, 1996 - †April 12, 2005

I'll never forget you, sweetie. You're in my heart forever...

May Bastet take pity on her and take care of her in the Summerlands...

Reiki II

Last Saturday Joke and I had the first day of our Reiki II course by Percy. There were two other girls, also sisters. One of the women we met at the practising afternoon in January was present to help Percy and as a preparation for her third degree.
After a chat and some general information we got the symbols of the second degree; they are used to send Reiki to situations (past, present or future, Reiki doesn't know time) or persons. Not easy to draw or pronounce!! It's an unwritten law not to tell or show the symbols. I know everything can be found on the internet, but I'll honour that rule in my log. While we were practising the symbols each of us was taken aside to receive our attunements. In the coming weeks we'll try and see what it does. On April 16 we'll have the second day to exchange experiences, ask questions, practise if we want. Afterwards we'll get our certificate.

Happy Ostara!!!

This image is made by Cynthia Rudzis. Her website is currently under construction, but her art is worth waiting for. The Ostara image is one of a series of eight: "Cats of the Wheel".

This weekend I celebrated Ostara with a group of online pagan friends. I had a great time. We made our own relic and talisman to use in a beautiful ritual which was all about respect and letting things go. In the evening there was a drum circle around the fire outdoors. It was very powerful!
Unfortunately I couldn't sleep, but instead I had a wonderful conversation with a friend I hadn't spoken for a long time. So it turned out to be time well spent! We have promised each other to stay in contact this time and we will.
Sunday morning very early we did a lovely little ritual to greet the sun and welcome spring. After breakfast several people sat around the large table and did readings for each other: runes, tarot, inner child, channelling, etc. Even though it wasn't for me personally this time, I picked up a lot to remember!
Before we went home there was a show with birds of prey: snow owl, uhu (big owl), buzzard and... a raven! They were all great, but I couldn't keep my eyes of that last one! I was allowed to have it on my arm for a while (wearing a leather glove of course) and I was speechless. Quite the experience!!!

Bon Appetit

I came across a fun website. Did you know the botanical name for chocolate is theobroma, which means food of the gods?? So why not make Chocolate Deities!?

Quotes from the website:

"Some folks say- But we can't eat the Deity! So they choose to place it on their altars as an offering. Others transmute it into another form: melt it to make excellent hot chocolate or sauce for a Sun Day. Most of the world over, however, after a food offering is made to the Deity, it is taken from the altar and consumed in a blessed repast."

"It all started nearly ten years ago when Jeanne Fleming and Jessica Bard were asked to make the hors d’oeuvres for an opening at a local art gallery. The show was entitled: Shrines and Altars. So, they decided to make a goddess entirely out of food, wine flowing freely from her breasts, and providing everything from nibbles to dessert." Read more...

Snow fun

We had a lot of fun in the snow today!! I hasn't been snowing like this for years. Ron has some days off and that was perfect timing. We had a snow fight with the neigbours, played in the snow with the dogs, just enjoyed this rare opportunity. I'm exhausted, but it was very much worth it.

Who knows... perhaps we'll finally have another Elfstedentocht!

Pathways

I was just surfing the WWW when I found a story called Pathways. It touched me, because this is almost exactly the way I see the divine. It is not in any way meant to hurt or insult other religions, on the contrary! Just read it here and let me know what you think of it. Is this how you look at the divine?? I'd like to hear your opinion on the subject.

Online Imbolc Ritual

Last Wednesday I took part in an online Imbolc ritual announced on Pagan@OSN. I was curious and a bit sceptical before, but it was a very special experience. We met through Yahoo Messenger in a chatroom with audio. Glad I bought a headset some months ago! I didn't know how to use the mike, but I do now! I was nervous to speak English, but I did!
There was an audio guided meditation, which was beautiful. The circle was cast in written words; I spoke them out loud for myself. I was so far away from the rest, but felt really close! It was early in the evening for them, but 1am for me. After the ritual the energy was still whirling inside me, so I couldn't go to bed immediately. I got little sleep that night, but it was more than worth it!
Next time I'll make sure to be there again!

Belated Season's Greetings!

I finally have the card that Unicef Great Britain made last year with Rob's handwritten lyrics of "Angels"!! Unicef made it very difficult for foreigners outside GB. Only people from GB were able to order. If you paid with a credit card, the address of the owner AND the address to deliver the cards had to be in GB. Rob's fans worldwide were (are) eager to get hold of a pack. They could have made a lot of money for their good cause, but refused to be flexible about it. I wonder what Rob thinks about that...
A friend I know from the official forum had some spare packs and offered to sell one to me. Yayyyyyy, thanks sweetie! Here's a pic of the inside, with a little pic of Rob and the front (not made by him and I don't particularly like it).
I love "Angels"!!! Rob deserves to win the Brits 25 years Best Song Award with it. It's a pity a lot of people in the US only know the horrible version in which Jessica Simpson butchers the song. I can send you Rob's version, or better yet: buy his Greatest Hits album! Follow that link also to hear a sample of the best, one and only original of Angels (and samples of all the other songs on the album).