Ostara, the New Year, and Food

 As I may have mentioned, I celebrate the new year at Ostara. I do this because a new year, to me, means new beginnings and new life. The calendar new year in January doesn’t really say new life to me. It says slushy, cold, gray days and long nights. Although I do end the year at Samhain, I view the time after it until the winter solstice as an “in-between time”. At Yule, the days start to get a little bit longer, but again, the timing just isn’t right to me. 

The Persian new year of Nowruz is also celebrated around the time of the vernal equinox. It’s the start of the Iranian calendar and lasts for thirteen days. There’s focus on family and friends, celebrations with fireworks or around bonfires, and, of course, food. 

I added kuku sabzi to my Ostara menu several years ago. It’s sort of a frittata but packed with fresh herbs, making it perfect for celebrations of spring and new life. My kitchen witch path is pretty eclectic when it comes to food. That leads me to the real topic of this post, and that is traditional new year dishes from different places and groups. What do people eat, and why? 

First, I’ll look at some dishes eaten in the US because that’s where I’m from. More specifically, I’m from the Appalachian region, with its mixture of Irish, German, and Italian ancestries, among many others. Some of Appalachia is in the south. These things all come together to influence the dishes consumed on New Year’s Day. The purpose of these foods is usually to bring good luck and abundance/money. This includes Hoppin’ John, with its combination of black eyed peas and rice. It’s often served with collard greens. All of these ingredients represent money. Dried beans, salt pork, and rice would be winter staples. 

In Japan, buckwheat soba noodles are eaten to represent longevity. Noodles are also eaten during the Chinese lunar new year, also for longevity. Dumplings are another traditional food. These represent wealth. Grains and meat are foods that symbolize wealth, abundance, and prosperity. 

In Germany, people eat a lot of pork to bring good luck in the coming year. My university German teacher said in his grandparents’ home, they ate pork and sauerkraut at midnight. The idea in their household was to fill up on good food to start the year right. “May you never hunger”, right? 

With most new year celebrations occurring in the winter months, preserved foods and dried foods made the most sense. A pig could be slaughtered for fresh meat if needed. Most of us aren’t so agrarian these days, but we tend to follow the traditions we know, and that includes eating a lot of the same foods every year even though we can now access pretty much anything at any time. (Yuck to produce out of season!)

While the dishes could be switched up for variety or due to availability, dietary restrictions, etc., the purposes remain the same. We want to welcome prosperity, abundance, wealth, health, and good luck into our lives in the new year. A magical diet can include these energies from a variety of ingredients, meaning you can consistently imbue your diet with properties of good luck, protection, prosperity, or anything else you choose, any goal. 

Two of the resources I started with and go back to most often are Scott Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs and his Encyclopedia of Wicca in the Kitchen. The indices are great for quick searches. There are lots of great titles for the kitchen witch with recipes ready to go, too. Start by making something for a specific sabbat, such as the aforementioned kuku sabzi. And here’s to a happy new year and new beginnings.

The Wheel of the Year

 I don't observe the Wiccan wheel of the year because I'm not Wiccan. I'm also not agrarian, so I don't observe planting and harvesting times as closely as a farmer would. Many of us live in urban or suburban areas and don't have the same connection to the cycles as our ancestors did. 

I do observe some changes during the year, and I do celebrate some sabbats. I’ve just shifted the focus a little bit to fit my beliefs and more contemporary lifestyle. For example, I don’t really observe Beltane because it’s more Wiccan. The veil opens a bit at that time (stronger in the Southern Hemisphere at Samhain), so I may do a bit of divination, but not much more.

Litha and Lammas are more centered around agriculture, and while I respect and revere harvest deities, I have other ways of offering support to the growth, harvest, and transport of the crops and the people responsible. Mabon/Harvest Home/the autumn equinox remains a celebration of thanksgiving.

For me, Ostara is the new year. It makes sense to start the new year in the spring rather than in the cold, gray dead of winter. There’s little life or color in January. The Persian new year of Nowruz also occurs around the same time.

The year ends at Samhain. A lot of witches and pagans observe Samhain as the ‘death’ of the old year. Some begin their new year right away while others wait until Yule. For me, there is an “in between time” that begins at Samhain and stretches on until the winter solstice. Meatless meals are the norm during that time, and that can last until Imbolc, even. The veil is still kind of thin until Yule, just not as thin as at Samhain. 

The winter solstice brings us the longest night. I like to keep vigil and celebrate at dawn the next day, a fast to feast sort of thing. With brunch. It’s about lights, time spent with loved ones, a warm welcome to longer days coming, and different food. 

The time between the winter solstice and Ostara is often the coldest, snowiest, and iciest of the year for us. That’s why I like to mark Imbolc as a bigger celebration of fire and lights. More candles, the Yule tree still up, gifts, and all the other things you’d associate with Yule. Just at Imbolc.

Why? The days are getting longer, but the change isn’t noticeable yet. The weather can be dreadful. January and February feel like the longest stretch of the year to some. It’s at that time that we need the most light, the most warmth, the most cheer. Think of it as encouraging the sun to strengthen, to return to full power again. 

I actively observe Ostara, Mabon, Yule, Samhain, Imbolc. There are special foods, special activities, ritual, etc. Beltane, Litha, and Lammas are more relaxed. They're just kind of "Yay, summer!" all together.

How does your wheel compare?

Feasting when the Veil is Thin

 Here is a link to a collection of vegetarian recipes for the time just after Samhain up to Yule. I believe some of you have seen it before. It is linked through the blog on the other (less user-friendly) website as well. Yule-Imbolc and Imbolc-Ostara collections are forthcoming! Leave some comments on this blog or over on our Facebook page. We'd love to hear from you!

Introductions, Part II

 Part II of the witchy tag interview can be found here. This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase any of the books or other suggested helpful items through those links, we earn a small commission. Something to keep the lights on, as they say. 

Meeting Us and Finding Us Online

 Some greetings and introductions are in order. A longtime witchy friend of mine has agreed to stomp out a path with me, a kitchen witch's path with a slightly different spin on the wheel of the year. We are striving to keep some older traditions alive, and in some cases that means modernizing and adapting them a bit. 

Some of the posts contain affiliate links. We are working on an Etsy shop and will most likely go through Amazon to publish our book(s). For now, we have a Zazzle store where you can find Pagan-themed holiday greeting cards. 

We also have a Facebook page. That's about it for our online presence right now. We're busy making magic in the mundane world but will be online more as our schedules allow. This is a very busy season for witches, as you well know. 

Always a little bit backwards

 I am going to share the blog from my website here until I catch up, and then experiment with linking this blog back to the other site. I'm trying to be in two places at once. 

I've been up to stuff. Things. I recruited others. Check it out here. 

Fly or Die, Broom to the...Doom?

 Whatever, I've decided to go all-in. I have a website but will keep this blog separate for now. I am working on building up the site, the Facebook page, and whatever else I can fit into my schedule. I have a lot of witchin' to talk about and write about. The plan is to do a lot of it in book form. The website is pretty empty right now, but I'm getting it together when I can. I bought a house and am still trying to unpack and organize allllllllllllllllllllllllll my books, scarves, kitchenware, etc. We cleansed it, but there is more proper witching to be done inside and out. 

Feel free to check out the site: Better Hearths and Cauldrons - check back for updates. 

The page is more active at the moment because that's what I've had the most time for: Better Hearths and Cauldrons Facebook

Y'all know I ain't got the wherewithal (talent? yeah, talent) for TikTok or IG. 

Guess What?

 This will come as a surprise to NO ONE, but here it goes: I am not the type of witch you see on YouTube, IG, or any of those other sites. And I have a feeling that most of you aren't, either. 

Yes, I would absolutely adore being able to wake up quietly, do a morning meditation and/or ritual, prepare a magical brew of herbs, sweetened with local honey, and sip it at a lace-covered, crystal-adorned table, surrounded by houseplants. And yet...

What's stopping me? Well, for one thing, a lot of people have made showing carefully choreographed and curated snippets into their lives into an actual living. This is what they do for work. Everything looks amazing and perfect because that's their job, their livelihood. 

I, on the other hand, have no presence. I'm not cute. My house is never neat because I can only fight so much against the 'gorbage mornster'. I am anxious, I am stressed, I am very rarely dressed (not true but it rhymes). I get up at 5:30 to get ready for work. There is no time for a leisurely breakfast. I shower at night and am lucky to drink an entire cup of coffee before it's time to hit the road. And no, I am absolutely not getting up any earlier than that except for the month of Ramadan because I work for people who observe it and our days begin and end earlier. 

You want to know if there's a point, don't you? Well, there is. And here it is: I have a bad habit of beating myself up for not doing enough. I don't read cards enough. I don't do anything for the sabbats or esbats most of the time. I have no witchy daily routine to speak of. And as I said earlier, I suspect a lot of us are in the same rut. If we have the time, we don't have the energy, and vice-versa. 

We know better than to compare ourselves to those we see online. Consider this your reminder: They are doing a job. Do they really, truly do all of those things when the camera isn't rolling? I neither know nor care enough to speculate. I just want to remind all of us that we're not bad for getting busy with the duties society as ascribed to us so we can "earn" a living. We're not less-than because we don't cast a circle very single day. We're tired. We're all very, very tired. Tired of this pandemic and all the concerns it brings with it - health(care), school, work, social time, housing - many of us may have never faced such insecurities before. This is some shit. It's okay to be caught up in survival mode right now. 

But what if we made a plan to get out of some of that? What if we had some tiny steps, some itsy-bitsy goals, miniscule changes that could add up and give us some of that witchy spark back? I have ideas. I've been keeping notes. Not much has been done as of yet (see notes on pandemic and gorbage mornster). 

But what if we got together and supported each other as we achieved these little sand grain goals? Soon we'd have a whole beach to ourselves. Yes, I am going to say it: we could be sand-witches. I'm so sorry. Please don't leave. But seriously, is anyone out there ready, willing, and able to participate in little ways to reclaim our witchiness...es? Lemme hear from ya!

Where to Aim

 For someone who goes on and on about the traditions I’d like to build and pass on, I sure don’t get around to talking about them much, do I? I’ve actually been outlining some things, trying to compile a personal path and all it entails in a manageable number of pages. Sounds daunting when I put it that way, but that’s fine. It is a daunting task. 

Being a kitchen witch, most of my traditions are centered around food and the magical purposes of the ingredients. Kitchen items can be used in other rooms and for other reasons, too, and I’d like to share some of the things I’ve learned through a combination of experimenting and intuition. 

One of my biggest problems, though, is having too many ideas and no discipline/focus to finish even one idea before I start planning the next. 

I have most certainly bitten off more than I can chew with the big cookbook project I’ve been slowly picking at. I think it may do me good to take a break and give some attention to things that are finished, or mostly finished, yet unorganized. That might provide me with some sense of accomplishment and perhaps even motivate me to make more progress on bigger things. We shall see. 

I’d ideally like to put together some printable planner pages for the witchy week. I’ve been working on things such as what room to focus on for each day, matching planets, energies, and ingredients. Those ideas and energies would also spill over into meal planning, naturally. 

Other things I would like to be able to share with others include the sundown-to-sundown observance of sabbats with an overnight vigil and ritual at dawn, followed by an appropriate breakfast. Have I been working on recipes for that? What, are you new here? Oh, you are? Pardon me. Welcome. Yes. Yes, I have. 

If there is anyone left to read this, let me know where you’d like to see me focus my energies: Biiiiiig book only (get on it, witch!), path traditions (+ breakfast/brunch recipes), witchy planner, or throw it all in the bin and find another way to waste time? 

In Favor of Imbolc

 Let me start by saying that I do not dislike Yule. It’s really not very stressful for me. I have very few people to shop for, and our holiday dinner here will be for the two of us. I’m actually looking forward to the long weekend over which I will observe Yule this year. 

No, I’m not trying to say anything negative about Yule.The solstice time is warm, bright, and cheerful. Yule is very, very necessary for a lot of reasons. First and foremost, it celebrates the birth of the sun/god, the slow return of light and warmth.The winter solstice is the longest night; therefore the extra brightness reminds us of the light half of the year. In addition, in my wheel of the year, the new year is Yule (I’ve written about my reasons for this). By Imbolc, though, the goddess has also recovered much of her strength. 

Depending on your hemisphere and region, this time of year can be cold, gray, and wet or snowy. I, however, live in a place that isn’t usually that cold in December. Snow, when it happens, is more of a January-February thing. This past February was unprecedented and horrific, as many of you may know, but it’s typically just dark, cold, and depressing. 

The post-Yule period feels like a huge letdown after such a big buildup. The calendar rolls over and January is gray and slushy. It drags on. February may be the shortest month, but it has a way of feeling like the longest. February, rather than making us anticipate March and Ostara, heralding spring, we instead feel as though winter will never end.

It’s at this time we most need the reminder that the sun is growing stronger day by day. The days themselves are lengthening a little at a time. Imbolc, also known as Candelmas, is also about flame because of its connection to Brigid. Imbolc is also related to the pregnant ewes and the milk their bodies were starting to make. I guess you could also look at a cozy, glowing celebration as a way of cheering up a new or soon-to-be mother, in a way. 

Light lots of candles. Build a fire if possible. Decorate with dried orange slices and red chilies. Eat spicy food and traditional (and cooling) dairy dishes. Have a warm drink. Put some brandy in it. Get warm. Bask in the light. If there is snow outside, bring in a bowl of it and cheer as it melts. Help usher winter back to its slumber for a few months. Acknowledge the Cailleach and thank her for her gifts of winter solitude, silence, and rest. Remind Persephone it’s nearly time to return to her mother. Dance in a spiral to honor the sun and know that the earth will spring to life again soon. Carry an ember (figuratively) with you. Ostara will be there soon. 

Always Craving Traditions and Community

 It’s almost Yule. Once again, I feel kind of unprepared. Emotionally, I mean. I never seem to get my act together these days, leaving sabbats unobserved for far too long. 

I tell myself that things would be different if I had a group and could get together with my people. I tell myself I’d be more prepared if I had some time off during this part of the year, but this isn’t academia.

The reality: I’m lazy. I procrastinate. There are times when the darkness of this time of year combines with my everyday darkness to create a super clump of hopelessness and sadness that chokes me until well after the winter holidays have passed. Just in time for my annual Beltane depression, but that’s another story for another time. External motivation is pretty helpful, though. 

The point I am trying to make is my lack of celebration, my lack of food traditions and other witchy traditions for this time of year. Or any time of year, for that matter. I crave being able to build and share Sabbat traditions with my family, but...I don’t have one. I feel as though I’m the only one who really thinks this is important, and if no one else cares, why should I waste my time, right? 

In my witchy dream world, I do have a close community. We gather as often as we can. Wisdom is shared, spells are cast, the holidays are celebrated, and seasonal, magical foods accompany all of this. Also, I have more storage space and the kitchen cleans itself. It’s a dream world, after all. 

I’m not flashy. I’m rather boring. However, I do know my shit. Need traditional ingredients for a particular Sabbat? Esbat? Handfasting dishes? Croning? Hit me up, and I’ll totally hook you up. Hell, if you live in my town, I’ll cook it for you if you want. I just want to share my passions, and it hurts to think no one cares much either way, that my material is somehow unworthy of notice. I don’t know what to do to change that yet, but I’m thinking.

You'll Never Guess

In January 2006, I moved from my home state to the Lone Star State for my first teaching job. I was, after six months and two crappy minimum-wage jobs later, finally going to use my degree.

I've moved a helluva lot since then. I started this blog when I was living in a different part of my home state. I blogged from overseas. I believe I started this thing in 2007. Holy shit. It boggles the mind.

There have been long periods of silence. The name has changed. Witchin' in the Kitchen was so good everybody kept stealing it. Nar's Witchy Kitchen replaced that. Better Hearths and Cauldrons came to me and made me laugh a long time ago. I have the domain name, and I will be getting a website together one of these days.

I'm still Nar Leoterra. I still keep a witchy kitchen, but mostly in my mind. I'll explain:

A lot of things have kept me from blogging. A scroll back through my history will show you that. I, however, will not rehash any of the last nearly 13 years. What I will say, though, is that I am back in Texas, in the very same city, but teaching at a different 'school'.

It's never easy to meet new people and make friends when you move as often as I tend to do. The Aussie and I pack up alllllll of our crap (a considerable amount), our animals (4 at the moment), and truck on over to the next job. Even this job's stability is on the line because of contract expirations and all that jazz. Who knows where I will be this time next year.

Right now, I can say that I am here. I am doing my best to keep my shit together. The Aussie and the animals help. And, perhaps best of all, I have encountered a few more like-minded people who may actually try to meet with some regularity. You know how I lack both consistency and self-discipline. Come onnnn. I need the kick in the pants that a group of people I like can provide. So maybe I'll be more active and actually leave the house after work once in a while.

Hopefully they will let me feed them. My kitchen doesn't feel very witchy right now. It feels too small, too cluttered, and in need of a deeeeeep cleaning. The whole place could use a thorough scrubbing, but I'm usually in some sort of pain and can injure myself easily. But! But I am going to try to get my ass in gear, dust off the cobwebs, get the boogers out of my third eye, and...gross. Anyway...

I have some witchin' to do! Let's just pray I have the fortitude for it.

Yeah...

File all of this under "I Should've Known", with virtually everything else.

I started planning things for November and found out the stove and oven didn't work. The unit had to be replaced. It was installed incorrectly and had to be redone. (The dishwasher followed a few months later, after a violent, noisy shuddering of the pipes and some water flooding the kitchen. Followed by some leaking from the hot water heater. Just shoot me, JFC.)

Nothing ever changes for the better, does it? I guess there is some sort of balance achieved here and there, as the wheel of fortune spins and spins and spins.

I am job hunting once again. I was needed for two semesters. I am not needed for summer, and fall is uncertain. I hope I am able to get some unemployment for a bit, and I really, really hope I can land something more stable by fall. Another move. Another small fortune in that. Goodness, it never ends.

Silly me for choosing this career, I suppose, but I had no idea that hatred would affect this field in this country as much as it is right now. It's nearly impossible for some to get visas, and the rest of them look at us and say, "Fuck, no, I don't want to go to school and live there. That place is a shit show!" And they would be 100% correct.

Guess that tarot side hustle is gonna be my thing for a while, once again. That and who knows what else. The bf hasn't found a job yet. Maybe I can get him to sell some plasma in town. I would, but they have strange rules and restrictions involving tattoos and such.

Anyway, the hunt for something full-time is on once again. Time to get the candles lit and such. Just wanted to update anyone who might still read this. Maybe I'll be active this time around. Fourteen months of unemployment the last time wasn't great for my writing. Or will to live, in general.

Keep your eyes on this space because you just never know!

November is a Tasty Month

My menus are finished, and just in time! I still don't know what I'm going to make on Samhain, though. I'll hit the store at some point between now and then and see what speaks to me. I can say, though, that I have a pretty good idea of what we'll be eating for the month of November!

I have discussed my dietary changes from November 1 until Yule (here: A Fall Fast , and I even put together an e-booklet of vegetarian recipes (here: Feasting when the Veil is Thin ). This year, I am repeating a few favorites, but I'm also working on some new ideas, recipes for which I will share when they are ready.

The following link is to my calendar of menus for the month of November. As always, I have tried to utilize as many seasonal ingredients as possible, while also considering their spiritual significance for the season. Elements of earth and water are represented, as are foods that are ruled by the moon or by fire. Fire warms us in the late fall and through the winter. It reminds us that the sun will soon reappear and we will be able to celebrate.

I find that organizing my meals in this way serves several purposes. This is just what works for me. I like to delve deep into the creative process and see everything all together. It's always a work in progress, though. The days are flexible. Some weeks are really heavy on the beans, and while I enjoy the musical fruit, I do not always enjoy the music my body produces. Yikes. So that's an example of when I might move some meals around.

I'm planning on leftovers for lunches, as well as rotating leftovers and reworking them a bit. Leftover macaroni and cheese? Leftover chard? Combine them.

You'll notice a good bit of tofu, Brussels sprouts, and lentils. Rice, pasta, and potatoes are staple starches. I'll be playing around with my extensive spice collection to find enticing flavor combinations. I don't typically plan desserts, unless it's for a special menu, but I know I'll have to have some sweet stuff. I'll be sure to keep the blog updated.

Also, I'm not going to beat myself up if I give in to a craving for something. Stress is neither wanted nor needed. I'm also taking Thanksgiving Day off so I can have turkey wings. hehehe

After all that rambling, I present:

Feasting Through the Veil: November 2017 Vegetarian Recipes

Menu Planning

Samhain is nearly here, and you know what that means - vegetarian meals from Nov. 1 until Yule. Now, my kitchen is completely ready yet, and the dining area is still a mass of boxes and containers that need to be moved around. But that doesn't mean I can't get my menus ready!

I put together Feasting When the Veil is Thin a while back and will use several of those recipes in meal plans for this time. I'm also working on some tasty new additions. I'll be posting my November calendar shortly. Recipes will come as I prepare the dishes. Weekends will be used to prep and cook many things, but my new schedule is a bit more open these days, meaning I have some more time and energy to cook after work.

I haven't cooked a meal in ages. I've been here for over two months on my own, no pots and pans or anything. My microwave has been my best friend, along with a variety of less-than-healthy restaurant options. I am really looking forward to getting back into my favorite room of the house, and I hope you will join me once I get there.

Samhain Goals and Other Goals

It's October 18 already. Holy crap! My household has been here with me for a week, and guess what? That's right - we're still unpacking! Including the kitchen. Oh, boy.

One problem I have (out of 2847987259873972 or so) is getting too far ahead of myself. Putting too many irons in the fire. It is difficult for me to focus on one task at a time, but I am doing my best.

October Goals:
- Unpack and organize kitchen stuff
- Plan my Samhain menu for the living and the dead
- Tweak my post-Samhain vegetarian menu plans

Short-Term Future Goals:
- Put together plans for menus using Yule foods
- Continue recipe development for the larger cookery book project

This Samhain, I still need to decide what I want to purge. I'm slowly getting rid of physical items that I no longer use, but for Samhain, I need to get rid of some hangups, some baggage.

I need to believe that I can be successful. There's a first time for everything, right? I need to work on letting go of some of this horrible self doubt. I need to believe that someone somewhere is interested in what I am trying to accomplish. There's a serious lack of support in my life, unfortunately. Yes, some people are busy with their own things, but for the most part, people simply do not care because it's not about them.

That leads me to believe I need to purge some of these unsupportive buttholes from my life, as well. Time to make a list.

What are your Samhain plans? I am still trying to figure out what I will be able to do. A lot of it depends on the unpacking process. Soooooo, I think I will go downstairs and see what can be unboxed and put away.

It's So Easy! (Not)

This came across my Facebook feed this morning, and I thought it was worth sharing. This is a topic that I try to keep in mind when I am planning sabbat menus, developing recipes for my own projects, or just thinking about what to make for dinner during the week. My kitchen is currently being packed into a U-Haul by my poor, sweet Aussie, along with everything else that is on its way to NC from WV.

The Myth of 'Easy' Cooking

This article, posted in The Atlantic by author Elizabeth G. Dunn in November 2015, discusses the promise of restaurant-quality, gourmet meals at home, in a snap! Except...not. Now, I don't have children, but I do have a full-time job, pretty shitty clinical depression, and chronic pain. These things combine to make me feel like absolute crap at the end of many days, with no motivation to even chop an onion, much less slap together a "simple" quiche or "instant" pasta carbonara.

Nah, fuck that. I'm almost ashamed to say we actually did a lot of takeaways. Obviously not ashamed enough to omit that information from my blog, however. And you know what? We'll probably do it here sometimes, too because even though I love cooking, the cleaning up process takes forever. We don't always have the energy to do a thorough job of it, and this place is...considerably buggier than WV. I'm not willing to deal with that. At least we have a dishwasher again. That's incredibly helpful, but I know that there are still evenings when I simply hurt too much to stand and move enough to prepare a proper meal. And I know I'm not alone in that.

Once I have a proper work surface again, I plan to go back into my notes and evaluate what I have planned so far. Is is truly simple? Does it take too much time? Too much effort? Can a busy kitchen witch, perhaps one with children and/or another full-time job prepare these dishes for their sabbat celebration? It's a valid point, I believe, and one I fully intend to address in some way.

Months Later...

She returns.

I have moved. I am employed again! It's temporary, renewing every semester (booo), and as always, totally dependent upon student enrollment in the program. But, I'm teaching again, thank the gods. I get paychecks again, thank the gods.

Tomorrow, my boyfriend is scheduled to arrive at the wheel of a U-Haul, completely stuffed with things that I will keep and things that I will get rid of. Our pets will be here. I can see my dog, my cats, my ferret again! One of our sweet little ferrets joined her ferrety ancestors in the Summerlands at the end of August, unfortunately, but she is buried in West Virginia soil. This makes my heart happy because that is where my soul resides forever. Thinking about her is making me tear up a bit right now, though.

This place, while not totally devoid of Pagan folks, is not full of them, either. The closest events seem to be about an hour and a half away, but I hope to be able to connect with people and perhaps host things here. I have plans, but you know how it goes when you make plans. I try to remain flexible, if not entirely hopeful.

I've been here since August 14. My dad drove down with me and stayed for a few days. I lived in a hotel for 3 weeks before finding this little townhouse. Kitchen magic will happen. It will just take some time. I hope readers remember me. I hope to provide you with interesting content again once I am able. After the Great Unpacking and subsequent Great Purge of unneeded, unused items.

Join me. My kitchen will be ready soon. I can offer you coffee, tea, and comfort. Soon there will be food. Get ready.

Like a Phoenix from the Ashes, I Rise...

Or something...I dunno. Hi!

I've been extremely depressed and discouraged lately, but I am working on ways around it. I have squandered all of this precious free time by allowing that black dog to sit on my chest and prevent me from being able to do things that interest me. I'm climbing my way back out of the pit for now, though.

I've been unemployed since July 1, 2016. Unemployment is gone, and I haven't found so much as a temporary job around here in the meantime. I discovered what my biggest obstacle was, and it shall be seen to in good time...

How the heck are ya? Does anybody come back here anymore? I wouldn't blame you if you didn't. I have been the queen of the lazy shits, I swear. I haven't blogged, the house is a mess, and my cooking is nothing special most of the time. I can brainstorm all I want, but recipe testing and writing will have to happen after I get a job or whatever.

In the meantime, I took a comment from an old blog post and decided to turn my Samhain-Yule vegetarian recipe booklet into something to list on Etsy. You can find the link here: Feasting When the Veil is Thin .

At first, yeah, I felt like a turd for taking down the free copy and listing it on Etsy, but as I mentioned before, I am j-o-b-l-e-s-s right now. My boyfriend is still working, thankfully, but I've had to rely on contributions from the First Bank of Mom to help us pay bills until something comes along. I have been burning a St. Jude candle, even. I may end up going back to school, instead. Bah. Again: we'll see.

Anyhell, if you would like 29 vegetarian recipes for $3.99, follow the link above. I'd appreciate it. I'm working on some other short projects in the meantime.

Catch y'all later.

More Thoughts on Daily House-Witchin'

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I have been striving to set aside some special time to devote to spiritual growth. I’ve probably also told y’all a million times just how untidy my house gets! No, untidy is too mild. It’s friggin’ filthy at times.

I hate cleaning. It’s a futile effort because it never stays clean for very long. Not with five pets and an Aussie, anyway. I hate it, so I rarely do it. I’ll do the dishes, of course, but I have a smallish mountain of laundry to go through. The bed never gets made nicely, unless the bedding has been changed. Dust? Eh...You catch my drift. But that’s gross, y’all. I can’t be a happy kitchen witch here, or anywhere that isn’t at least somewhere tidy.

I have decided that, since I have nothing but time on my hands right now, I should come up with a schedule to help me utilize all of those free hours. Seriously, I need to step away from the computer once in a while!

So, what I have so far is a list of tasks that, if done consistently, shouldn’t take much time at all. This list is a combination of mundane tasks and witchy things to help keep the house protected and full of love.

This is my tentative plan:

Witchy Home Living, or Better Homes and Cauldrons

Sunday is set to be our witchy day here because it’s the day my boyfriend has off. The goal is to strengthen our paths and devote time and energy to our crafts.

Methods:

• Spend some time unplugged from technology, except for maybe some kind of music playing device
• Spend time in thought/prayer; to commune with deity - utilizing music, incense, whatever feels right at the time
• Read
• Tarot time

Sunday dinner is going to be the roast dinner that’s in my 2-week rotation plan. I can do some prep work on Saturday such as baking bread and making dessert. It takes a while to make a new routine an automatic one, so wish me luck! Let me know what you're up to, as well!