YAY, I won a giveaway!

In April, The Wizardess EPI over at the Go out beneath the naked night blog did a series about menstruation called Bloody April.  She posted a giveaway for My Little Red Book by Rachel Kauder Nalebuff, which is a collection of stories from women around the world about their first periods, on Velvet's vvB32 Reads blog.

So I was one of the 7 winners of this book, it's very exciting as I've never won a giveaway before and I can't wait for it to come in the mail! :)  A big thanks to Velvet for putting together the giveaway, it's pretty wonderful!  The book should be a real joy to read, and I may end up lending it to my niece when she comes to that age.

Maybe I should have a giveaway eventually... hmmm.

Podcast Mania and Kellianna!

Despite how busy I should be right now (in the midst of finals week... I don't want to think about that French final I took today...) I am back with another post!

I finally got around to listening to Episode 68 of The Wigglian Way (which was out before Beltaine but I just got to it tonight) as a backdrop to studying for a final.  It was another great episode, I adore Sparrow and Mojo and they had a great interview with Kellianna, a fantastic pagan artist whose music I love.  To paraphrase Mojo: when you hear a Kellianna song once, you hear it for the rest of the day.  This episode of course reminded me that Kellianna is having a concert in my area.  She will be performing at Goddess Blessed in Lakewood, OH on September 20th, which is super exciting! I still need to pick up a ticket for it, but if anyone's going to be in the area and sees me there, feel free to say hi.  :D  (Also, I love that Kellianna listens to classical music on NPR...)


So, for your listening enjoyment, here is a Kellianna song:

On another podcast related note, I've added a new pagan podcast to my list: New World Witchery. I've known about New World Witchery since they started, but wasn't really interested in listening tons of podcasts.  Now the idea of a podcast about paganism and witchcraft in North America really intrigues me and I'm excited to get through the rest of their episodes (there are only 9 with a couple of specials, so it's relatively easy to catch up).  Like I've said previously, I really enjoy podcasts with two hosts so that's a big plus for me, and they cover some really interesting topics, and they list tons of references and resources in all their show notes.

Also, since I've already given a shoutout to Mojo, I should probably mention TLS, or The Lovely Sara as she has put out the third episode of HedgeFolk Tales which should be extremely enjoyable, as the first two episode of HedgeFolk Tales were.  And I love reading Sarah's blog at the Witch of Forest Grove because every time I go on her website I am inspired to do crafts of my own, and the things she creates are absolutely beautiful!

Another podcast which I have not had the chance to listen to yet is the Standing Stone & Garden Gate podcast, which also looks promising.  It only had 12 numbered episodes so it should also be easy to catch up on, I'll post more about it once I've gone and started listening to it.  As an added bonus, their website looks cool and has lots of links for casual clicking.

Since I'm on a podcast kick here, I might as well keep talking about the pagan podcast Iolair and I are planning and might actually have time to do, given school is soon to be over for me.  We've got even more crafts queued up for doing over the summer, and all of them have some sort of tie-in to spirituality/paganism/witchcraft.  We're both really excited to venture into the world of podcasting (so I should probably keep in mind that I need to figure out all the technical bits...) and we can't wait to put out an episode!  We're also thinking about starting up an Etsy shop to sell some of the things we make, but that all depends on how the crafting actually goes once we start.  Just a little update, in case anyone remembers or was interested...

So, now that I've talked myself out (and I still have more things for my next post) I will leave you with these podcasts and some music.  Also, isn't this a gorgeous picture of Kellianna?

Now, back to studying, I'll probably be back sometime tomorrow (amidst writing a twelve page paper... lol) with another post!

Thunderstorms, Gardening, Finals and way too much Dr. Quinn...

Sorry I haven't put up anything in a while!  The end of the semester is drawing near so I've naturally been rather busy with school and figuring out my living situation for the next school year.

For the past few days we've been having thunderstorms in my area, which pleases me to no end! :)  I laid out in my front yard today and watched the storm blow in, which was probably the most relaxed I've been in the past two weeks.  I also found a really cool photography shop on Etsy at RRobert's Photography, this is one of my favorite prints:

I really adore thunderstorms and watching them over the past few days has reminded me just how much I love the spring and makes me all the more eager for school to let out.

Also, I've been meaning to do a little planting as I am at my parent's house for the weekend. My plants from last year are coming back up nicely, though they do need re-potted.  I'll edit this post with some photos as soon as I take pictures of them.  I want to start some medicinal plants so that I can start crafting infusions, salves and other herbals that are also practical and not just magical.  I've been really inspired by the Wise Woman Tradition and now have a whole list of practical books that I want to read, use and share.

For the past few days (well, weeks really) I've also been having near constant marathons of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, which is a show I absolutely love for a whole host of reasons.  First, it's essentially a pioneer soap opera (and I do so enjoy fictionalized drama), it is also a really nice depiction of the west and of wilderness in general.  There is also some nice exposure to Native American practices and beliefs (the episodes that feature such rites and traditions are probably my favorite episodes in the series) as well as those of other cultures (like the few episodes where the town is exposed to Asian belief systems), which I find really interesting and cool.

Recently, I was discussing Dr. Quinn with a friend of mine, and amidst my commentary on the drama of the show (which I cannot deny loving) he hit on a very salient point for both of us: as the show progresses the west becomes more and more modernized, which we both found very depressing.  I think this speaks to a more general view that we both share (and that several of my friends share) that modern advances and civilization are not always preferable to us.  Don't get me wrong here, I am a big fan of certain modern conveniences, but I feel they've led to a massive overpopulation of the majority of the world and have shifted our daily focus away from the natural world, which saddens me.  Dr. Quinn is still a really great show, despite that little fact, and I would encourage you all to watch some of it, because there is really quite a lot to each and every episode.

Now that I've had my little ramble, I will depart for now as I have plenty to do before finals, but I can't wait until Thursday when I will be free!  I should be back within the next day or so to edit this post with pictures of my re-potted plants and perhaps to clean up some of what I've written to clarify, until then, bright blessings!