MmmmmMead...

Rocky Mountain Red Metheglin. Spiced with orange peel, cinnamon, clove, and red zinger tea. May the Force be with you. Should be ready to bottle in about 6 months, and ready to drink next year this time.

WaneWyrds Midsummer Magic Blog Giveaway

Cena over at Wanewyrds is giving away some very cool items. Check it out at Wanewyrds.

Emppu!

As you may (if you know me) or may not (if you don't) be aware, Nightwish is one of my very favorite bands. I love all of them, but I am especially fond of their guitarist, Emppu Vuorinen, and their bassist Marco Hietala.

Nightwish finally came to the US on their last tour for their album Dark Passion Play and we drove to Cleveland, Ohio to see them. My husband and I were right up at the front and we agreed that they are one of the most charismatic and good looking bands we've ever seen live. As he said, "I'd fuck any one of them." And they rock. They will rock your socks off.

Emppu was right in front of where we were standing for most of the show. He's an outrageous flirt when he's on stage. He winked at me. I thought I was gunna have a heart attack.

Here. Have some Emppu. It will make your Monday better.

C is for CUUPS (PBP)

(I apologize that this post is a day late and rather short--I am working this morning. I'll just say it's been a hell of a week and leave it at that.)

CUUPS stands for the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans. The following comes from their website, which can be found here: CUUPS is an independent affiliate of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) honoring goddess-based, earth-centered, tribal and pagan spiritual paths. UU Paganism is a liturgical and theological community under the umbrella of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Membership in CUUPS is open to Unitarian Universalists and those in sympathy with Unitarian Universalist Purposes and Principles.

Years ago, my husband and I moved to an area where there was a UU Church (The Unitarian Universalist Church of the South Hills, AKA Sunnyhill). I had been a solitary for many moons and was rather lonely and wanting a spiritual community to be a part of so I decided that I would check it out, knowing that there was an active CUUPS group (Spiritways) within their congregation. I am now a friend of that church, and have been attending and leading rituals and Lifecraft classes as part of Spiritways for several years now.

I am the only Norse/Northern Tradition pagan in Spiritways currently, but these folks are quite welcoming (as UU's are notorious for), so I feel very comfortable there.

Imbolc/Brigid altar (Pagan Blog Project)

Blessed Bridget, comest Thou in
Bless this house, and all of our kin
Bless this house, and all of our kin
Protect this house and all within

~Imbolc/Lisa Thiel

Funnies for Wodensdaeg

Hope everyone has a blessed Imbolc. If I don't crash after work, I will post some pictures of my fire-y altar for Brigid.

A message

So tonight was the Imbolc ritual for my local CUUPS group. It was lovely. We were led in a candle meditation and encouraged to open ourselves to whatever message was intended for us. Then we actually made our own candles out of beeswax sheets, which was awesome. Mine's going on my altar along with all my other goodies for Brigid and Imbolc, which I'll be posting pictures of later this week.

My message was from Brigid, who has always spoken very directly to me. The message was three words, as I stared into the flame of my candle: Create...grow...become.

I still get a shiver thinking about it. I'm looking forward to seeing how this message manifests in my life in the coming year.