Day 5~ Happy Fall Y'all

Altar Besom, Elegantly Enchanting, Happy Fall Y'all, I'm Not Hanna, Spiders, Sugar Cookies, Voodoo

Wow! We've made it through the first week and it's been so much fun we are coming back again next week! We hope you are still enjoying the things we have to share as much as we are bringing them to you. Today's entry is all about Fall...

Today's Blog

Today's blog comes from Heather over at I'm Not Hannah.

I’ll be honest: sometimes, I’m just not that spiritual. In fact, I might venture to say that a good bit of the time, I’m so busy doing things like cleaning toilets, buying groceries, editing pictures, doing the whole “life as a work at home and occasionally outside the home, sometimes in a professional setting” thing that my spiritual side just sort of disappears into an occasional prayer or lit candle when a friend is in need. This is especially true in the Spring and Summer. We’re busy with the end of school and with vacation and visiting and then stupefied with the heat. You would think that gardening would give me a “tied to Mother Earth and all of her abundance” vibe, but really, it’s more about getting the stuff in the ground so we can eat it.

Autumn changes that. The kids are back in school and I can get more time to myself. Life slows down, even just a little bit. And I can take a moment to pause and reflect on what IT all means.

Folks get all gaga about Spring: the flowers, the births, the pollen, and bees, and the warmth. We’re dizzy and excited with LIFE, eager to get out in the sun and feel the light on our faces. Autumn is not about that. Autumn is about…well, it’s about things dying, really.

But WHAT a death! What a glorious, rich, sensuous slide into cold and dark. The air is spicy with harvested pumpkins being baked into pies and peanuts and pig being boiled and barbecued for weekend fun.. The beautyberry glows like amethysts from the roadsides before becoming breakfast for migrating birds. The leaves flame up their own funeral pyres. The light is a golden blanket you wrap around yourself against the chill.

You know what’s coming: the cold of winter, the blankness of sky and tree and ground. And so you savor what is left to you. And you marvel that you are gifted with such beauty and bounty.

That’s one of the reasons why I reconnect with my spirituality during the Autumn. Because even more than the nutty aliveness of Spring, the Autumn teaches me about what it is to live—and to remember that life is transient and precious. It reminds me that others have left this world before me and that they are just past my reach, close by and present. It connects me to the idea that we must store up our treasures and prepare for having less.

There’s also the idea of balance that comes with the equinox (and yes, I understand that it comes a week before October…work with me here.) There is a time when we aren’t rushing toward dark or light: we can just be still. In between cold and heat, in between life and death, just…still and able to think of where you are in that place and what you need to move on to the next place. I find it a comforting place to rest.

Of course, there’s college football…

What?

Y’all, I AM a Georgia Bulldog. It’s pretty much a religion around here, with Vince Dooley being the patron saint and Mark Richt being the current prophet. (Or demon, depending on the Tennessee score…)

The point of all this is that Autumn, and especially October, makes me think about the bigger picture and the smaller one at the same time. It’s the time of year when I feel most whole and when I feel that anything is possible because almost everything has happened over the course of the year.

Happy Fall, y’all! May this Autumn find you happy and blessed and well-pleased with the past year’s labors.

Today's Giveaway

Our giveaway for today comes from Lorelei at Elegantly Enchanting

Picture Credit Lorelei from Elegantly Enchanting

Samhain Mini Altar Besom / Broom - Black, Orange

Something special for your Samhain Sabbat celebrations. Or, an elegant gift for your favorite Witch.

A natural wood and fiber besom has been embellished in the spirit of Samhain.

Satin ribbons in black, and orange are wound lattice-style around the handle of this lovely little Witch's besom / broom. At the top of the handle the ribbons are bow-tied, knotted three times, and festooned with a pair of glass and crystal beaded baubles (beads in the baubles may vary) in matching colors. A silver-pewter Pentacle charm is the finishing touch.

Besom / broom measures 9 inches in length.

Remember:

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Go to Elegantly Enchanting and peruse her wares. Come back and tell us what you like best there.

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The Recipe of the Day!

Picture Credit Fred and Friends

Voodoo ‘n’ Sugar Cookies

Adapted from The Coexist Cafe and Fred and Friends

Nothing’s better than sugar cookies, right? Well… what if they could have some dastardly devilish meaning behind them, like, oh… spiking a former lover in the eye? Or, better yet, just devouring him whole!

OH MY GOD AND THERE’S A LEGIT VOODOO DOLL COOKIE CUTTER!

I think I’m in love.

Ingredients

* 1 1/2 cups butter, softened

* 2 cups white sugar

* 4 eggs

* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* 5 cups all-purpose flour

* 2 teaspoons baking powder

* 1 teaspoon salt

Frosting

* confectioners sugar (about 2 cups)

* milk (by the Tbsp)

* splash of vanilla or almond extract

* food coloring for decorating

Method

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. If your butter is too hard, leave it in the sun to soften a bit. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.

2. Stir in the flour in 1-cup increments, mixing well. Add baking powder and salt, then blend until the dough starts to form into a ball.

3. Leave the dough to chill for at least an hour. Overnight is best.

4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Roll out the dough onto a floured surface about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into VOODOO shapes, then place cookies 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

5. Bake for 6 minutes in the preheated oven. You’ll want the cookies to come out with just a tiiiiiny bit of color on the bottom. Adjust the time and temperature as necessary — Matt and I had to eat the first batch as the bottoms were too browned. (No loss there!) Cool completely before frosting.

6. When the cookies are cool, make the frosting! Add 2 cups confectioners sugar to a bowl and add vanilla extract. Add milk in increments until the desired consistency is reached — you’ll want it so you can pipe the frosting and have it be a bit thick.

7. Once the consistency is reached, divide into different containers and add food coloring until the desired colors are reached. Frost the cookies with a toothpick or using a piping bag, then place them on a cooling rack to dry. Allow icing to dry overnight.

ETA: This recipe yields around 60-80 cookies. Just forewarning you!!

Craftiness for Friday

Picture credit All Kids Network

Samhain Spiders

1 cardboard egg carton, cups separated

1 jar, black paint

Scissors or a needle

1 box (or bag) black pipecleaners

1 bag small black pom poms

(optional, 1 bag of “eyes”)

glue

Separate the cups of an egg carton. Take one cup from the carton and paint it black, allow it to dry. Repeat for each “spider” you wish to make.

After the egg carton cup has dried, use a pair of scissors or a needle to make 4 tiny legholes on both sides of the cup.

Insert pipe cleaners into each of these holes as legs.

Take a black pom pom and glue it onto the top of the cup as the spider's head. Afterwards, glue some eyes onto the spider's head and you will have yourself a lovely Samhain spider.

And the Winner Is:

The winner of the Herbal Home Cleansing Set from Jen at Three Cats and A Broom is Peppylady(Dora)!
Please email us your shipping information so Jen can get this mailed out to you!