Crystal party

A friend of mine recently started a new chapter in her business, she is taking her business mobile. I was more than happy to help out and with that my Crystal party was planned! I will leave a link and Lisa`s contact info for anyone in the Edmonton, Alberta area interested in hosting a party.

Lisa and Shauna from Everyday Miracles

 Lisa will bring everything you need to shop from the comfort of your own home. She takes debit and credit cards as well as cash.

 She has a wide array of crystals and spiritual products plus catalogs to order from.

Some of the larger crystals

 She has Crystals of all types and sizes and if you have special requests she is more than happy to try and find what you want.

Pocket stones

These ladies are knowledgeable and so easy to get along with. They are passionate about what they are doing and it shows. So if you are interested in a unique party idea drop Lisa an email at everydaymiracles111@gmail.com and check out her facebook page at Everyday Miracles

Vanilla lavender poppy seed cake

I created a special dessert for the occasion. It was a huge hit! So yummmy!!

Moist and delicious with the perfect balance of vanilla and lavender

Imbolc 2013

This years Imbolc alter

Close up of my little plushie melted snowmen. They are a perfect symbol of the melting snows.

 In our tradition we celebrate Imbolc from the the 1st to the 3rd of February.  Zed was born on the 1st so we usually dedicate this day to his birthday, this year it was the same. Also this year I decided that I was going to have a crystal party and the best date for everyone was the 2nd so I set the time for late afternoon thinking I could do it all lol Ya No! The crystal party was a great success and loads of fun and I am going to dedicate a whole post to it next.
I did learn that Sabbats should be dedicated to Sabbats!! This is the first year in forever that I did not get everything done candle wise that I wanted to do :( 

Zed`s birthday dessert

We celebrated Zeds birthday as per usual he had a few friends over we ate my special seafood lasagna and had cherries jubilee for dessert.
My sister and nephews came out in the evening to stay for the weekend. On the second we got up early and waited for one of my coven sisters to show up so we could start making candles. When she got here we started making our beeswax sheet candles. Then the ladies came to set up for the crystal party and we enjoyed our evening shopping. After the party wrapped up we feasted and for dessert had a sundae bar.

Toppings for the sundae bar

 We always discuss as a family what we will feast on for every sabbat. We had a great suggestion from Zed for dessert A Sundae Bar!! It was perfect the white melting ice cream is a great symbol for this time of year and with putting all the little toppings on it was like seeding the Earth :)

Zed dishing out the ice cream, Bug waiting patiently.

Willowtree loading up with toppings

Willowtrees sundae

  Everybody loved the sundae bar :)

King Connahers sundae

My sundae

Bugs sundae

Willowtree priming wicks

 The next day we got up bright and early had a good breakfast and started making candles.

Bug with some of the candles she made

Bug rolling beeswax candles

King Connaher and his best friend cousin Spencer priming wicks

Some of the beeswax candles my coven sister made

First batch of beeswax sheet candles made by the minions, myself and my sister

Bug priming wicks

Spencer and King Connahers candles

Zed making a candle

The beeswax sheet candles I made

Willowtree making candles

In the mid afternoon we took a break for our Imbolc ritual. 

Working Imbolc alter

As part of our Imbolc ritual we did the Brigids cross guided meditation were you make the cross as you do a meditation to help you choose your years path.

My cross for this year

We did a women's mysteries circle along with our Imbolc ritual as the mysteries for Imbolc are woman based.

My sisters henna

 We drummed and shared in the power of woman, cleansed and wrote powerful symbols in henna on each other. We talked of hidden mysteries and shared in truths known by the soul.

A coven sisters henna

My henna

Moms henna

 After ritual we returned to crafting. We made healing Pine balm and blessed it with the healing powers of Goddess Brigid.

Pine balm cooling

Bug kept busy by making a gel candle

Bugs finished gel candle.

We wanted to make pour and melt candles and soap but didn`t get to it. I will do what I need over the next few weeks. We had a wonderful sabbat filled with family and good friends. Before everyone left I pulled out one more dessert made specially for Imbolc!

Banana cream trifle

We had a great time and I learned valuable lesson, Stop taking on to much and it`s ok if we don`t do everything!! Now we look forward to Lupricalia and celebrating the festival of LOVE!!
Have a magickal day!

Making Pine Balm

Most of these pics are from last years pinebalm making (Imbolc 2012)
It is a Imbolc tradition for us to make healing balms at this time of year as well as candles. This year at Imbolc we made our pinebalm as per usual but I was really busy with many other things so I did not take as many pics.
In our home we practice holistic healing, we also do alot of wild crafting and making Pine Balm combines both :) 

Bug and I collected some boughs from a big beautiful Spruce tree on one of our walks. We let them dry for a couple weeks, then the girls pulled off all the needles.

 This year Gramma provided the needles for our balm

We chopped them and added a little dried orange peel

Put them in a jar and filled it with olive oil. Seal it and put it in a dark cupboard for a minimum of 3 weeks shake regularly

Then strain the needles out and reserve the oil. We ended up with about 2 1/2 cups

I warm the oil on a double boiler in a glass bowl and then add pine resin about 2 tbsp, warm till it melts in then add the beeswax about 2/3 of a cup grated. Stir clockwise till melted. This is also the point when I infuse the mixture with healing energies and chant to thank Spruce, olive, orange and Bee for their contributions

Let cool slightly and pour into containers

As it cools you will see a cool color change. Bug and I review liquid to solid reaction.

It is such a pretty color when done

This years batch

This is an excellent balm for minor scratches and scrapes. It is also great for softening callouses on your feet and preventing cracking. Happy crafting

January in pictures

We brought the New year in together as a family feasting on potstickers :)

Making potstickers for our New Year's eve feast. This is a December pic I know but I didn't get a pic of the potstickers before they were devoured lol

Daddy helping Bug with some bookwork

Bug playing with her new anti gravity car she got at Yule

The anti-gravity car that Bug got for Yule has inspired many conversations on gravity, vacuums and space. I love it when toys inspire so much learning :)

Bug working on her first mosaic. A kitty

We started a Art/History unit on mosaics. I found a neat kit with 4 different mosaics to make at the Dollarama. We spent a few days surfing the net looking at different styles of mosaics and learning about the tools and some terminology. We made a few different mosaics, learned their history and how mosaics allow us to see what our ancestors saw and found beautiful.

Excellent little book on the history of Mosaic art

Bug making a glass tile mosaic

King Connaher writing a story

I wonder what we are up to today?

Gramma and Bug making suet for the birds

January can be bitter cold in Canada and the little birds that stay here for the winter can sure use an extra energy boost to help them get threw till spring. We have always fed the birds what we could.

Bug did not like this part at all

 We saved the fat from the big mutton roast we had done in the fall. We rendered it down then let it cool and rolled the pinecones in it. Then we rolled them in birdseed.

Bug rolling them in birdseed. She didn't mind this part so much

 The pinecones then had string tied onto them and were hung on the trees.

With the left over rendered fat we added bird seed then put it in the fridge till it was hard and cut it into blocks to go in the wire cage feeders outside.

Bug in the Orbeez foot spa

 Taking care of oneself is very important. In today's world de-stressing and de-toxing on a regular basis is just good sense and yet so many people do not take the time to care for themselves. The Minions have been taught from day 1 that we must take time for ourselves and we take regular time every week to have spa and relax time. They also do yoga and meditate which also falls into this category of self care.

Willowtree studying herbs

Glow in the dark sand art fun with Bug and Zed

Zed helping Bug with her bookwork

Polymer fun. This unit gets re-visited often. Bug just loves slimy science!

Cool book we found. Another tool in the ongoing learning of our worlds geography

the next thing in art we explored was sculpting on a cage

We didn't quite use this kit like the directions said, we used the cages and Bug and Willowtree freehand sculpted onto them.

Movie theater popcorn

Homer's donut LOL

A rose

A lucky find by mom makes Willowtrees day :)

Her first creation

Drying apples for the birds. We string them and hang them on the trees.

Willowtree and Bug making bracelets

Some of the sistertime bracelets that they made

Bugs turn to make lunch

Fruit salad yum!

We celebrated Daddy's Birthday

Willowtree working on a new piece of art for her room

King Connaher got this for Bug for Yule. It is a very neat game she loves. It allows her to draw and make art on our big screen TV threw the PS3.

Bugs new kitty paws

 I think all of the Minions would agree that the highlight of the month was at the very end, when we took in the Taste of Animeathon in Edmonton. The costumes were amazing!! The minions all saved up money so they could buy things at the booths. They can't wait for the next one in the summer.

Alice and the Mad hatter

Bug and Willowtree at Taste of Animeathon

Willowtree with a fuzzy

At the Full wolf moon we gathered in our grove and consecrated scrying bowls.

I came across a saweet deal on black glass bowls!! This witch automatically thought OMG scrying bowls so I promptly bought one for myself and the older minions, my sister, mom and some covenmates LOL I am telling you this deal was awsome. When we gathered for the full Moon I cleansed and consecrated them. Willowtree did her own :) I gave them to my coven sisters as Imbolc gifts. The Minions were excited to have scrying tools of their own.

Ingredients for Master Tonic; onions, garlic, horseradish, ginger, spicy peppers habenaros and jalapenos and apple cider vinegar

 We also made Master tonic on the Full moon. It is an excellent cold and flu fighter amongst a ton of other health benefits. It will be ready in three weeks.

Master tonic steeping away in the cupboard

We had our usual cold snap in January tho it only lasted three days instead of the normal 2 weeks. It got cold and the birds were very thankful for our gifts of food. We have been watching the birds threw the kitchen window most of the winter and Bug can now confidently identify the Chickadees, Sparrows, blue Jays and two kinds of woodpeckers. I am hoping that the Minions continue to love watching the birds as it is a passion that spans generations in my family :)