Books!

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Kickin'It Old Skool, Day 23
Yesterday I couldn't join, because I simply don't have any digital pics of 'Wee Me' and the analog ones are somewhere in a box with many boxes on top...
Today the prompt is about one of my favourite subjects.
Let's talk about books!

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So, what do we talk about...? I talk about books here on my blog: books in general, book-lists, a book I recommend, etc. Lots and lots of my many books are still in boxes because I simply don't have room to display them. Might sound silly, but I miss them a lot...
Today I decided to share pics of the book wall in my room. Ron made it for me so I could have at least some of my books at hand. The top 3 shelves are fiction (fantasy, thrillers, literature, etc.), the 4 below are non-fiction (paganism, herbs, history, etc.). Both are in alphabetical order. The bottom shelf is extra high, so there are the larger books. On the floor are magazines in file boxes.
The book on the stand is "Luna Moon Hare" by Wendy Andrew, a lovely book with beautiful illustrations.

If you want to see what I have in my library, you can see 1200+ of my books in my LibraryThing. One day I hope to have added all my books there! It's a very nice community and a great way to store your books online. I also have a Goodreads account, but I prefer LibraryThing.

Time Capsule

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Kickin'It Old Skool, Day 2
Today we are capturing this moment in time by answering a few questions. So let's start!

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What are you reading?
I'm always reading multiple books, so here are the ones for now:

• The Fishing Widow by Amy K. Marshall - I got it for free through LibraryThing Early Reviewers Giveaway and I like it a lot! I'll write a review later.
• Heilige bronnen in de Lage Landen by various authors, a Dutch book about reclaiming holy wells in the Lowlands. I attended the book presentation last Saturday.
• and there's more: a thriller by Jo Nesbo, several pagan reverence books and some magazines.

What are you watching?
Besides my all-time favourite Star Trek there are several tv-series I like: Criminal Minds, The Mentalist, NCIS, CSI, Bones, Castle.... and so much more. We recently watched Under The Dome. I also like movies, documentaries, detectives... really too much to sum up here. Did I tell you I love television and dvd..?

What are you listening to?
In my car, computer and cd-player there's one cd on repeat... Swings Both Ways by Robbie Williams. Here you can hear samples of all the songs on this great album, Rob's second swing album. Wonderful new songs, old songs and duets with Michael Bublé, Kelly Clarkson, Lily Allen, Rufus Wainwright and Olly Murs.

What are you loving?
I love.... Ron of course! :) But I also love nature, books, music, internet. I love my pets, my friends and family. I love snow and ice, the cold season. I love walking my pagan path. I love the beach and dunes, trees, stones. And I could probably come up with a lot more I love!

What are you wearing?
Same as always, because i'm comfortable in it: jeans and a sweater. A new black jeans this time, just bought it a week ago, a size smaller than last time, yay!

What are you creating?
I'm busy writing a new column for PaganPages. For the December/Yule issue (coming any day now, soon!) I've writen about creative witchy stuff. My latest creation was a rite-of-passage-cord for the daughter of a Craft-sister. You can see it here.

What are you looking forward to?
I'm so much looking forward to the end of the financial crisis. In general, but especially in our own personal situation... I can't wait for it to finally end. I know there's light at the end of this very long tunnel, but I wholeheartedly hope we get there real soon!

Bonewits seminar

Some time ago I had booked a seminar by Isaac & Phaedra Bonewits in Amsterdam. It was a 2-day seminar, but because of the Tink event (see post before this one) I had to miss the saturday. I found someone who wanted to take my place on saturday, but decided to go to the sunday sessions myself. I travelled by fast flying ferry and tram, but because of the Amsterdam marathon I had to walk the last part to Centrum De Roos.

Isaac Bonewits is a neopagan priest, magician, scholar, author, bard, activist, polytheologian and a leading experts on ancient and modern druidism, witchcraft, magic, the occult, and the earth religions movement. (read more here and here). In 2004 he was handfasted to tarot expert, writer and Wiccan Priestess Phaedra. Together they opened RealMagicSchool.com, where you can follow classes. There's also a free basic membership.

The theme of the morning session was "Ritual Critique Skills & Real Magic", which was very interesting. Isaac is a good speaker, has a lot of knowledge and sense of humour. Phaedra backs him up and adds her thoughts and/or experience. There was time for questions from the group and some discussion. Before lunch break Isaac signed my book: 'Best witches, Isaac'! :-)

During lunch I had a nice chat with Isaac and Phaedra. In 1970 Isaac graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in magic (and thaumaturgy), the first person ever to do so at a Westem educational institution. Unfortunately college administrators were so embarrassed over the publicity about his degree, that magic, witchcraft and sorcery were banned from the individual group-study program. I also found out that Phaedra is as fond of LibraryThing as I am! She has almost 2000 books in her profile!

The afternoon session was about "Neopagan Polytheology". I knew some things about it from Isaac's book 'Essential guide to witchcraft and wicca', but hearing it in real life is better. We mostly sat down, took notes and listened. Very theoretical and very tiring. It wasn't boring (on the contrary, very interesting again!), but at some point my head was full and I couldn't absorb anything more. After a break (with 2 Cokes) I could concentrate, but when we finished I was worn out. Nevertheless it was very worthwhile!

TT on LT

I created a group on LibraryThing for people also participating in Thursday Thirteen. It's simply called "Thursday Thirteen on LT". I invited some bloggers I know are on both TT and LT. If you're reading this and it applies to you, feel free to join!

I love LibraryThing! My Library contains 129 books (and oracle decks) at the moment. Still only a snippet of what I have, but I can't hurry. There are so many books packed away in boxes... I miss them! I hope I can unpack them in my new room soon...

TT #35: oracle cards

Thirteen oracle carddecks I own I love oracles in any shape or form. I use several, but I also like to collect them. For this TT I'm listing thirteen non-tarot oracle carddecks. Tarot is a fixed format, in oracle cards the form is more free to the maker. The bold links lead to the items in my library on LibraryThing. The Druid Animal Oracle by Philip & Stephanie Carr-Gomm, illustrations by Bill Worthington Orakel van de Indiaanse medicijnmannen - in English: Native American Cards, originally Italian Le Carte dei PelliRosse Healing with the fairies by Doreen Virtue Fairy Oracle by Sulamith Wülfing Het Mandala Orakel by Heita Copony, in English: Mandala Oracle, originally German Das Mandala Orakel Goddesses Knowledge Cards by Susan Seddon Boulet Dolfijn Orakelkaarten by Nancy Clemens with guide, originally English Dolphin Divination Cards Cupid Cards: The Oracle of Love by Monte Farber & Amy Zerner Waarzegkaarten Jeu Lenormand by Mlle. Lenormand, in English try online, originally French "Dol-fijn" affirmaties by Liane Franzani, originally Dutch, also available in English De Magische Verbinding by Salvatore Cantore (Italian, living in The Netherlands since 1968), an oracle card game for 2 to 8 players. Reiki Inzichtkaarten by Simone Simons, Dutch affirmation cards based on Reiki (I got them from my Reikimaster after completing the course) Dol-fijn Bewust-zijn by Simone Simons, Dutch affirmation cards to raise your consciousness inspired by dolphins I have more decks, but I had to limit myself here to thirteen. :-) ~*~*~*~ Links to other Thursday Thirteens! ~*~ Danielle ~*~ Gabriella Hewitt ~*~ Candy Minx ~*~ Dragonheart ~*~ Christine ~*~ Darla ~*~ Jenny ~*~ Carmen ~*~ Christine d'Abo ~*~ Sparky Duck ~*~ Akelamalu ~*~ Susan Helene ~*~ Michelle ~*~ Nancy Lindquist ~*~ Frigga ~*~ Julia ~*~ Kuanyin ~*~ HighlandAmy ~*~ CraZedMoM ~*~ Wylie Kinson ~*~ elementaryhistoryteacher ~*~ Rhian / Crowwoman ~*~ Kristin ~*~ Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted! View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Druid Animal Oracle

I finally have the Druid Animal Oracle by Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm! I've always loved it, but didn't have the money. Yesterday I found it on Marktplaats (a second-hand selling website) for a very reasonable price and it has already arrived. It is illustrated by Bill Worthington, the same one that illustrated their Druidcraft Tarot. The cards of both oracle and tarot are beautiful and the books are very informative and provide good explanations.

LibraryThing

A few days ago I found a website to which I'm already addicted now: LibraryThing! It is an online service to help people catalog their books easily. You can access your catalog from anywhere, even on your mobile phone. Because everyone catalogs together, LibraryThing also connects people with the same books, comes up with suggestions for what to read next, and so forth. If you like books, it is really worthwhile to check it out. I find new features every day.
Joining is easy: just a (nick)name and password are required. A free account allows you to catalog up to 200 books. A paid account ($10 for a year or $25 for a lifetime) allows you to catalog any number of books.
Adding books can be done easily:

1. adding manually
2. search libraries from other members and simply click "add to my library"
3. search 80 sources around the world (Amazon, all kinds of libraries, etc.)
4. import books (by uploading, URL or source code - for example BookCrossing, Amazon)

I've put a LT-widget in the sidebar of my log, that shows random books from My Library. The covers bring you to the Amazon website, the rest are links to LibraryThing.
I already joined some groups there too, in which I can meet other LT-ers with the same interest. There's even a little community of Dutch people already. Not a lot of Dutch sources yet, but I think that will change.

I hope to see you on LibraryThing!
(and no, I don't get paid for this, I really like it that much!)