Samhain's Sirens Day 19, October 22

#Contest, #Facebook, #Giveaway, #Halloween, #Samhain

Happy Tuesday!

We're thrilled you could join us today! We thought we'd give you some trivia just for the fun of it.

On this day in history:
1746 - The College of New Jersey was officially chartered. It later became known as Princeton University.

1797 - Andre-Jacques Garnerin made the first recorded parachute jump. He made the jump from about 3,000 feet.

1836 - Sam Houston was inaugurated as the first constitutionally elected president of the Republic of Texas (yep, Texas was once its own country).

1844 - This day is recognized as "The Great Disappointment" among those who practiced Millerism. The world was expected to come to an end according to the followers of William Miller.

1879 - Thomas Edison conducted his first successful experiment with a high-resistance carbon filament.

Don't forget that Serena is around if you need help. Just email her or use the contact form at the top of the page. Feedback is also welcome!

Now, on to the celebration!

Today, we honor Ronnie James, from Dio

Sigils Made Simple

By Alan Heartsong

Samhain is most often thought of as either the time for working with the dead since the veil is thin, or the Celtic New Year and a time for new beginnings. There’s another side-effect of the veil thinning that a lot of people don’t talk about much – magic is easier. I started off with simple candle magic, and carving symbols into the candles to manifest my desired change. Sigils are magical symbols used to focus your will on your desire, whether it’s a heart for love, a dollar sign for prosperity, or something more complex.

I posted this on Facebook a while back:

Make a potion from herbs that are good for improving mental clarity. Bless and consecrate it.
Soak light blue thread in the potion. Bless and consecrate it.
Take a hat that has a band of fabric around the inside of it. Purify it.
Sew sigils for mental clarity, focus, insight into that band using the herb-infused light blue thread. Bless and consecrate the hat.

There, now you've made a thinking cap.

I was just intending it to be a bit of fun, and had a few private messages asking about sigils and how to “find” them, and figured it was time to share a post on making your own.

There are books out on planetary squares and how to use them to create a sigil for what you desire, and whole systems of that sort of thing out there. Lots of magical practitioners have a high rate of success with them, and enjoy the study and effort that goes into learning about them.

For some people though, sigils based on planetary squares have just been a source of confusion, consternation, and avoidance. A long time ago, one of my teachers taught me a different way of creating sigils in case I couldn’t connect to (he said “tap into”) the power in the planetary ones. Different folks, different sorts of magic I guess is the idea. So I did my best to put a PowerPoint presentation together for you, and converted it to a YouTube video. To explain what he taught me.

Essentially, turning the word or words that represent your magical desire into capital letters and superimposing them over each other to create a symbol is the method. The video has no sound because I couldn’t figure out the voice-over piece, but here it is for your pleasure. I hope you find it helpful!

Practical Sigils: http://youtu.be/2mKHXkanPvM

Blessings,
Alan

About Alan: Alan Heartsong has been practicing Wicca in one form or another since 1984, taking his Traditional training in a more organic direction, focusing on the effects of rhyme and music on magic as well as focusing a bit more on kitchen witcheries. His personal approach as a teacher of Wicca is to help the student find what works best for them in their own spiritual development, instead of slavishly following someone else’s dictates through rote memorization. In his own words: “Magic for me is a living flow of energy that washes over and through all of us every day just by virtue of being alive here, on Gaia’s surface. Many people are taught to think that magic should be hard, and take a toll on our bodies so used sparingly. I’m of the opposite opinion – magic is as easy as opening up to the glory and wonder of life and all its joys, becoming one with the natural flow of energies around us, and making the change through our own will. Ritual and symbolism help our subconscious minds get there and can be both beautiful and powerful. If your spiritual path leads you to a place of peace, joy and growth, then you’re doing something right.”

You can find Alan blogging here at http://heartsongscircle.blogspot.com/

Sister’s Vegetable Beef Soup

2 lbs ground chuck, browned and drained

3-4 potatoes, peeled and cubed

64 oz vegetable juice

1-2 bags frozen mixed vegetables for soup *I use about 1 1/2

salt and pepper and garlic powder to taste

ok..here it gets tricky cause I have no measurements

About 6 heavy shakes of Worcestershire sauce

about 3-4 glugs of kitchen bouquet

about 4 tbs of granulated beef bouillion

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker, cook on high for about 3-4 hours, then on low for another 3-4 hours.

*Hint...the smaller the cubed potatoes the quicker it’s ready...or slightly cook the potatoes in a microwave to get them started

Blessings

Autumn

You can visit Autumn's blog at My Moonlit Path and her shop at Verbena Lane Botanicals!

Today's giveaway comes to you from Danni at Heartroot Studio:

About Danni: A life long artsy fartsy daydreamer and tree hugger, Danni has been flinging paint and loving on nature for over 20 years. A self described mess maker of extraordinary proportions, she fancies herself an artist and is the Witch and Writer behind The Whimsical Cottage Blog.

Her muses are the Earth, Sun and Stars. The shadowed woodlands and deepest ocean depths. Magic and Mystery. Wild spirit, Old Myths and Fairy Tales. Love, despair and all of the emotions in between. Puppy kisses, kitten snuggles, laughter around the warm fire, the love of my life and his unwavering support. Good ales, heady wines and a healthy dose of curiosity.
Currently, this displaced Jersey girl is residing in Southern Suburbia with a herd of furry critters included a pair of wiley kitties, a hyper mutt and her husband.

To read whatever tumbles out of her head on any given day, please follow her blog here:
http://thewhimsicalcottage.blogspot.com

Here is what she's giving away! A beautiful 8x10 print of "The Torchbearer", the retail value is $20.

Here’s how to enter:

You have until 6am EDT tomorrow to enter.

Drawing is held by random number generation and winner will be notified in email (that's why you have to have an email address listed). Announcement will be made on the October 23rd blog post at 9am EDT.

Note: These giveaways are open to the U.S., Canada and where allowable. Void where prohibited.

Canadian residents, please pay close attention as by law, you have to use a different set of rules. Not to worry, we have you covered :)

You MUST provide a valid email address to enter the contest.

1. Go to Heartroot Studio. Find your favorite item, come back here, and tell us about it in the comment section. (1 entry)

2. Like the Facebook page for HeartRoot Studio. Let us know you did here in the comments. (1 entry)

3. Blog about this giveaway (make sure you link back here), come back and leave us a link to your blog. (1 entry)

4. Tweet about this giveaway (link to us, please), come back, and leave us a link to your tweet (1 entry)

5. Be a follower of this blog, Samhain's Sirens (1 entry)

6. Like Samhains Sirens on Facebook (1 entry)

Note: If you want your entries to count as separate entries, you must post them separately. If you post 1 comment with all of these on it, it will only count as 1 entry.

Canadian residents, by law, instead of the above, you must answer the following question to be eligible:

What is 0x0?

What's cool about being a Canadian? You automatically get 6 entries per giveaway for just answering 1 question! You still have to give us an email address :)