A Nummy Recipe~

FAERIE CAKES

Can be used for Nollaig na mBan, Yule, all esbats, name days, faerie offerings, and birthdays

Ingredients: 1 stick butter, 2/3 cup sugar, 2 beaten eggs, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, grated orange rind, ¾ teaspoon baking powder, 1 ¼ cups flour, 1 tablespoon milk, 1/3 cup sultanas
Sugar icing ingredients: 2 cups powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons boiling water

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Beat in eggs, vanilla, and orange rind.
Sieve baking powder and flour together and add to the butter mixture.
Add a little milk to create a batter of dropping consistency.
Fold in the sultanas and spoon into well-greased muffin cups.
Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes. Drizzle on icing.
For icing: combine sugar with boiling water

Blood in Magick

Sorry that I'm doing my opinion post a day late =P I was spending the night at a friend's house. Hope you're not too disappointed!
Blood in Magick.
We've all heard of it, and many of us view it as "black magick" or "dark magick". Some people even go as far as to declare it "forbidden" in their tradition/coven. A lot of people also say that it is against the Wiccan Rede, as the "harm none" part applies to yourself as well.
To a degree, I agree. When one kills an animal or cuts it and uses its blood, it is unethical and inhumane and totally against the Rede. When one takes blood from someone else against their will to use in magick, that is also unethical. I heard a report that in 2009 a man was arrested for sacrificing a goat on his property (he practiced Santeria). He took it to court and he won the case. His attorney declared it a "victory for religious freedom." Okay, so it was all part of his religion and all, but that doesn't mean it wasn't inhumane and unethical. So I rather disagree with that type of blood magick.
And then people talk about how it's okay to use blood in magick as long as it's your own menstrual blood. Well, where does that leave the guys? They don't have periods. (unless, of course, they're hermaphrodites, but I'm not educated in that subject so I'm not sure about that.)
And so, I think it's fine to use a bit of blood in your magick and rituals, if it is from your own body. And if it is other people's blood as well as your own, it should be given willingly. And by willingly, I mean the person is in the circle, involved with the magick, and knows what they are doing.
I myself just used a bit of my own blood the day before the Blue Moon. I was consecrating a candle that I was going to use for something very important during the Blue Moon, and I knew that providing a bit of my blood would make the spell more powerful. That, I think, is ethical.
In this sense, I'll come to the whole thing about "harm none" applying to yourself as well. And my argument for this is: it is impossible not to harm. Everything we do causes someone or something some kind of harm, either in a big way or a small way. We can try to harm as little as possible, though, and I figure that if you're going to harm someone, then it might as well be yourself instead of someone else, and it should be part of magick. ON THIS NOTE, I think cutting goes against the law of "harm none," because you are harming yourself in a negative way.

And that was my little rant on blood in magick =)

Happy New Year 2010, everybody!

Your Little Alaskan Witchy,

Celeste Airdancer


The previous image is not owned by me.

Basic Meditation

Meditation is the art of sitting in silence, turning off the world around you, and entering a state of consciousness that allows you to reach into the astral for power, knowledge, aid, and guidance. (But I would also like to note that it is also quite possible to meditate while, say, working, or writing, or drawing, etc. because meditation is simple shifting into another level of consciousness) Sometimes, when it’s deep enough, it can trigger an astral journey.
Visualization is an important part of meditation. The longer you practice meditation and the better you get at visualization, the more detailed your meditations will be.
You don’t need much for meditation. All you need is a comfortable chair or mat to sit on, and a place and time where you won’t be disturbed. Some people like to have a candle or two and some incense. However, if you pick incense, make sure the incense isn't so heavy that it makes breathing difficult.
When you sit down for meditation, first relax your muscles and get centered. Then visualize a brilliant white light around yourself. Next, see a deep well in front of you. Drop all negativity in your life into the well and walk away, and then carry on with your meditation.
There are several reasons to learn to meditate:
1) It’s relaxing and calming
2) You’ll strengthen your ability to visualize and your contact with spirit guides
3) Deep meditation aids in astral travel
4) It can create and/or strengthen psychic abilities
5) It can sharpen and focus your awareness
6) It allows you to “set” dreams.
One thing to remember is to not meditate more than three times a week. Some people can lose themselves in too much meditation and become somewhat detached from reality.
You’ll go through specific emotional stages while meditating. When first starting out, you’ll experience relaxation and pleasure. This will continue for some time. However, a not very pleasant period will come. It won’t be the fault of the meditation, but is actually the fault of a conflict between your conscious and subconscious minds. Some symptoms are dissatisfaction, poor connections with the astral, skepticism about what you see in a meditation, or a general lassitude of spirit, almost a depression. Don’t give up at this point. This stage will pass shortly. After it, you’ll find that your meditations take on new meaning and depth. Everything in the universe runs in cycles, and meditation is no exception.
A popular, and rather easy, form of meditation is guided meditation, also called pathworking. Basically, it’s a flexible story that you can record and play while you’re meditating. You visualize everything the recording is saying. When recording, say everything in a slow, even voice, leaving blank spaces at the appropriate spots so you can have time to explore and experience things. When you meditate using a tape, don’t try to think about what comes next. Just relax and follow along. If a meditation starts to take you some place other than what the recording is saying, just flow with it.
To write your own pathworking, follow this framework:
1) The entrance. It can be a door, an archway, the head of a path, etc. I like to use a huge tree at the head of a path.
2) The path. What you’ll encounter, what you’ll feel, etc.
3) The destination. What you find, who you meet, what you discover/use/etc.
4) The journey back. Return the way you came.


I provide here a basic meditation technique that you could either record and play, or memorize. This will help you to get used to shifting into another consciousness. After this, every so often I will post a new guided meditation that you can try.

Basic Meditation Technique
Make sure your environment is conducive to meditation. Turn off and block out all distractions, such as the ringer on the phone. Dim the lights, or turn off all the light and light a few candles. Incense may help. Turn on relaxed, ambient music.
Sit in a physically comfortable position. Relax your body, from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. Go through each section of your body and mentally give yourself permission to relax. Feel waves of relaxation moving through your muscles, as you become more and more relaxed.
(Pause)
Imagine a screen in your mind’s eye. This is your window to the psychic world. You control everything on it. Draw or visualize the number twelve on the screen. Hold it for a moment, and then let it fade or erase it like a blackboard. Then draw and visualize the number eleven. Continue this pattern until you reach one.
(Pause)
Release the screen of your mind, and silently count from thirteen to one in a slow, even pace, as you slide into a deeper meditative state.
(Pause)
You are now at alpha level. Sit for a moment, feeling the difference between this trance state and your normal waking state. At this point you would continue on to any meditative workings to expand your awareness. For now, continue on to learn how to develop better skills of focus and concentration. When you are ready, call for the screen of your mind again and visualize a candle burning before you. Take notice of the candle. What color is it? What shape? How brightly does the flame burn? Can you feel the heat it gives off? Notice all the details of the candle. Focus all of your attention on it.
(Pause)
When you are done, erase the candle from the screen in your mind. Wipe it away until the screen is blank. Now count up from one to thirteen without visualizing the numbers. Then count up from one to twelve. You are now back to a state of normal waking consciousness. Ground.

The previous image is not owned by me.

Long Time, No Post

Hey everybody. I know it's been super long since I posted, so I suppose I have a lot of updating to do.
For one, I am now in Junior year of high school, I am still working at the Day Care, my witchy friend Lelouch is down in Idaho now, and I've been busy busy busy with school and personal projects. For instance, I finally finished my snazzy big Book of Shadows! It took me friggin' forever to finish, too. (with no insult to the goddess Frigg, who has had her reputation pretty blackened by twisted myths and the popular insult "friggin"...we believers love you, Frigg!) You can check out my big BoS on my new youtube, MsDreamingDragonflies www.youtube.com/user/MsDreamingDragonfly
Secondly, I no longer consider myself a Wiccan, or even with Wicca-flavoured beliefs. After a lot of research and interviewing, I have concluded that you cannot be Wiccan unless you have been initiated into a Gardnerian/British Traditional coven. (this, of course, does not render others paths invalid. All spiritual paths are valid. This fact only states that many are putting a false name on their path.) And so I now consider myself an Eclectic Neo-Pagan Witch.
Thirdly, unfortunately, I am no longer with my boyfriend Zack (I don't know if I've mentioned him before...). The boy turned out to be a jerk and dumped me a couple months ago for a middle schooler. But oh well. There are better guys out there. I can think of one right now....;)

Now that I have all that aside, I'll get to the good part. Since I haven't been posting much lately, but don't know what to post anyone since I'm not exactly the greatest blogger compared to a lot of other people...I've decided to make this less of a diary-like blog and more of a teaching/opinion blog. Every Monday I'll post a teaching or a recipe or a spell or an exercise or a meditation, etc, etc. Every Friday I'll post an opinion/rant. So I hope you guys will have a fun time reading my blog, if anyone takes the time to read this thing anyway, haha.

ALSO! I highly recommend, starting January 1st, you read my friend Brittany's 365 Recipe Blog on Piczo.com! Her goal, inspired by the movie Julie & Julia, is to blog every recipe she does for the next year, finishing 1 cookbook each month. Her goal for now is 200 recipes, but she will probably exceed that! So I highly recommend you visit her blog, once she starts posting. She thinks no one will be looking at the site, so I'm encouraging people =) She also has a spot on there for other people to post their recipes. Sooooo....her site is http://200recipes-365days.piczo.com/

I hope you all had fantastic holidays, and I wish you all a great week!

Brightest Blessings,

Your Alaskan Witchy Celeste

Full Moon fun~

I had soooooo much fun on the Full Moon :3 I drank some caffeinated tea and stayed up uberly late doing my witchy stuffs, haha. During my ritual I did blessing and consecrating of my new stuff~ my smoky quartz, my selenite crystals, and my little faerie statue. Then afterwards I hung (uh, more like taped haha) the selenite crystals in all four corners of my room to gaurd against negative energy/entities. Then I painted a box black for my new oracle deck called Ancient Feminine Wisdom of Goddesses and Heroines. It was one in the morning and I still wasn't tired, but I forced myself to go to sleep anyway =P after I fell asleep, just like always my body decided to be an asshole (excuse my french) and wake me up at 9:30 again. Seems like it never lets me sleep past that time, and it really is quite irritating.
But yay~ Full Moon~ I'm still buzzing from last night :3 haha

Bright Blessings to one and all!

An Epiphany

{I wrote this during last school year just after I got home one day}

As I was riding the bus home this afternoon,
Some incandescent fluttering settled upon my mind.
I began to feel as if my life was just the pages of a book,
And I was reading them in an indifferent manner.
The words coming out of my mouth sounded foreign to me,
And I felt as if they were being spoken by another person.
I was out of my body, flying high above in the clouds,
But at the same time I was strangely grounded.
I felt a beautiful stillness settle about me,
A benediction that pierced my shivering heart.
Beauty has no love, and love has no beauty.
Beauty is a silent whisper that lays its head upon a place
And smiles cleverly and happily at your confused face.
Beauty has no face, or a body, or a heart,
For beauty is not a solid object.
Beauty is beyond the formation of thought, and so
Beauty has no opposite.
Beauty has no label, for beauty can not be put in to a physical thing.
Beauty is in the air around you,
Which pulses with quivering excitement and expectation.
It is silent, whilst love is loud.
And silence gives no sound, nor thought, nor feeling.
I sat atop my own head, feeling disconnected from myself.
An out-of-body-experience is a quiet thing to behold.
It is much like dying, for dying is not painful.
The process is painful, but dying is a true Beauty.
I can see the world from new eyes.
I can see my life from a different angle.
And strangely, now everything feels just right.
Beauty has penetrated my life subtly,
Leaving a small mark on my heart and mind.
The epiphany of a dream,
In which I have just now woken.

Lughnassadh Fun~

My Lughnassadh was totally~ fun =) in the morning I did my usual devotions, and then I went over to my buddy Lelouch's house to celebrate. We did nature walks, went to the Farmer's Market, visited the local metaphysical store...we also went to the animal shelter and I found the best cat! Haha she had SUCH personality! She glared at me every time I looked in to her cage XD she gave me the funniest looks, and I wanted so much to take her home with me. But unfortunatly, I couldn't =( I already have two cats, and my parents would totally kill me if I brought another one home.
But anyway~ I got a couple great new things for my altar, including a new smoky quartz (single terminated), a little statue thing with a faery sleeping on a leaf, and some selenite crystals to hang in my room. The selenite will protect my room from negative energy and electromagnetic rays :3
Later on, Lelouch and I did a ritual on the beach, and then afterwards ate cookies and watched The Sky Crawlers =) It was a great Lughnassadh. And with the Full Moon following on its heels this Wednesday (pus the actual astrological date of Lugnassadh, which is August 7), it's certainly a magickal week.
Bright Blessings~!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psAnixrubr8
(me showing my stuff off haha)