Strands Of Starlight

A couple of days ago I read Strands Of Starlight by Gael Baudino. When I saw this book mentioned by the wonderful Poppy Palin I immediately tracked a copy down and read it in 2 days. It's not often a book makes so much sense to me. I was completely enveloped in the magic. It's about the witch trials, elven magic etc.

And then I saw the connection to my favourite tarot deck, Waking The Wild Spirit, by Poppy Palin.

I feel I should tell more about Ms Palin. Her Craft of the Wildwitch book was an eye-opener to me when I read it about 2 years ago. As I read it I thought how much of my own thoughts and actions were in that book. It helped me find my path. Nothing glamorous like Egyptian or Italian witchcraft. Just plain old traditional witchcraft. That's me, and thank the Goddess I read that book ! So as you might have guessed, I'm a big Poppy Palin fan !

I use her tarot regularly when I need a little help to figure out my life ( and my place in the world ). It is the most amazing deck I have ever come across. It's long since out-of-print, but can still be tracked down. Even though it has 78 cards and is called tarot, it is very different to the usual decks. Very calming, giving gentle readings even when it is about serious subjects. Just holding the cards and looking through them makes me chill out and smile.

So, I'm feeling very much connected again to this land we live on. We pour concrete everywhere, grassland disappears to make way for houses that the locals can't afford to buy. We trash our planet and treat it terribly. But still, dandelions push through the cracks in the pavements, tadpoles evolve, grass grows lush and green.

Feeling very much in awe of the universe right now.

Enjoying identifying plants

Been out doing some plant-spotting. I'm studying botany along with herbal medicine. I thought I would start with plants I can find locally. Found what I think is self-heal. I didn't bring back samples, just took photos with my beloved iphone 3gs. Tomorrow I'm taking my little wild flower book out with me to find out if its self-heal or bugle.

Wow I turned into even more of a geek lol ! I am LOVING this herbal medicine course, I only just started the first component but I am hooked already. The anatomy & physiology book I'm ploughing through makes my head whirl but it's fascinating too. I didn't realise how little I knew about the human body. It's quite remarkable how it works. Especially seeing as how bad most of us treat it.

I also found lots of ragwort, which is to be expected I suppose. I took pictures of quite a few wild plants I found but it's still hard to identify them from that, so, like I said, me and my little book will be out tomorrow to see what we can find.

I'm taking my tree book too as i am rubbish at identifying trees ! I'm pagan, I should be much better at it lol !

I'm blown away by just how much flora we have locally. Not bad when you think I live in a town. But mother nature always finds a way, doesn't she ? And thank the Goddess for that.

Willpower....fail ! 3gS on the way

I really was going to be good. I resisted the new iphone 3gS. But it's power was too strong....I ordered one and it will be delivered tomorrow YIPPEEEE !

It cost me a ridiculous amount of money. I am tied into a contract with o2 so I have had to buy the 3gS on payg. I will swap my contract sim into the new fone.

I can't wait lol ! I am THE original GadgetGirl.

Meanwhile I am still sneezing, bunged-up nose, feeling yukky. It's been about a week and a half now. Hope I'm feeling better soon. The school summer holidays are almost upon us. 6 weeks of keeping a 5 year old amused. Good grief !

My studies are going ok for my course. Anatomy and physiology are hard work. Think I might be reading that book a million times before it sinks in. But it is soooo interesting ! I am really going to enjoy the course. Herbal medicine has fascinated me since I was a little girl, collecting rose petals and plants and trying to make "magic potions" !

Durham under water

So there it was, our romantic day all planned out. My little boy was going to his granmas, me and my man were off to Durham for lunch, a romantic walk along the riverbank feeding the ducks...... 1st spanner in the works was the torrential rain and flooding we had in the northeast of England yesterday. 2nd spanner in the works was that my little boys granma was poorly so he couldn't go there. Oh well we thought, a nice day out for the 3 of us feeding the ducks. 3rd spanner in the works was the fact that the riverbank path in Durham was under 3 feet of water. Still we had a lovely day. Wetherspoons for lunch and a wander round the shops. I broke the habit of a lifetime and didn't buy anything. And that was only because nowhere had any of the new iphone 3gs in stock lol ! The picture is taken from the bridge in Durham city centre. I feel so sorry for the owners of the restaurant on the riverbank. Riverfront property is great when the sun shines, but as for the rest of the time......

Been ill... but it's not swine flu

I have been MAJORLY ill. Full of cold, sore throat, snotty nose and sooo tired. Went to the docs this morning and he said if it has been swine flu then I've been poorly for too long to give me the tami-flu tablets. He thinks it's a viral thing. Phew! So Saturday saw me, Sean and my mum at the Game & Country Fayre at Raby Castle. What a beautiful place. Sean fell in love with it. I mentioned that I could never live in a city and he said that he could never go back to city life, he loves the north-east. We had a fantastic day. Bought some gorgeous garlic mustard, tried lots of funny tasting food. Sean had a go with a longbow. It was a great day. So..I've made a start on my herbal medicine course. I'm studying anatomy & physiology at the moment. It's hard ! Last night I was reading about sub-atomic particles. LOL it went straight over my head. But I'm sticking with it. This course is very important to me.

SOOOO...here I am

and this time I REALLY am going to blog regularly. I've tried before. And failed. I can't promise a new entry every day. But then again I might have days where I go on a blogging-frenzy. Oooo sounds painful. I have to warn you : I have a butterfly mind. I skip from one thing to another with alarming regularity. I could be writing about my deepest, darkest thoughts and then oh my god those earrings are absolutely gorgeous.... you get my drift... So about the "weird" bit. I know I AM weird. Quite proud of it though. Never followed the herd when I was a kid, sure as hell ain't gonna do it now. I'm blonde. I'm a witch ( don't ask if I'm a white witch or a dark witch. I don't follow that line of thinking. ) I read tarot. I meditate ( badly. ) I read far too many books at once. I grow stuff in my tiny little yard. I'm about to embark on a distance learning course about herbal medicine ( pleeaassee hurry up Mr. Postman. ) I paint my nails bright colours. My hair is nuclear blonde, thanks to my hairdresser. And no, I know it doesn't look natural, I don't want it to. I wear clothes that I like, not what some "fashionista" tells me I should be wearing. I am a slave to the slogan t-shirt ( thank god for smellyourmum.com ) I'm raising my boy as a Pagan. I love my man who isn't into any of the stuff I'm into. And I know that even though we don't have a lot of money, our little family is happy as can be. And that, at the end of the day, is what's important.