The Best Meatloaf In A Tomato Sauce

the best meatloaf in a tomato sauce

Poisonous Plants Print by lvcernarivm

ATTENTION: 2020 Witch Challenge??

I’m considering running a year-long witchcraft research challenge, but first I’d like to know who’s interested. It’d work like this:

Each month is assigned a topic. Before the month starts, I’ll release information about that months challenge. It’ll involve one task or assignment to complete each week (4 per month) at any time of your choosing. Most of these assignments will involve you posting your findings or final product under the challenge’s hashtag. The idea is that you can then go and read everyone else’s work and learn more that way (e.g. an assignment could be to research and post the properties of a herb of your choosing; you can then read everyone else’s posts to learn more without having to research thirty herbs on your own). I’ll be doing the challenge along with everyone else: the topics will be areas I know enough about to be able to guide the process, but I’ll be learning along with you.

I hope to structure this challenge so that it’s beneficial for all witches, regardless of their skill level. If you’re an expert on a months particular topic, you can drop out of the challenge until the next month. If you’re busy the first month, you can drop in on the second month, or catch up on missed tasks in your spare time. This challenge will be largely theory based, with a few practical components. I’m creating this because I’ve noticed that most of the witchcraft resources available on Tumblr are practical (spells, instructionals, etc.), and there is little attention paid to the why and how of witchcraft. If you don’t know why the spell you’re doing works the way it does, or how the various components affect it, then your craft is inevitably going to be less effective than it could be.

The topics I’m thinking are:

JAN: History of Witchcraft (covering both ancient and modern aspects)

FEB: Elemental Studies

MAR: The Wheel of the Year

APR: Meditation & Mind Skills (shielding, visualisation, etc.)

MAY: Divination

JUN: Astrology

JUL: Spellcraft

AUG: Green Witchcraft

SEP: Religions (a look at the other spiritual practices of the world to better understand our own)

OCT: Mythology

NOV: Locational Studies (how time, place and location affect magick)

DEC: Ritual Magick

I’d appreciate people reblogging (to spread the word) with suggestions and expressions of interest.

What’s your favourite kind of tea? 🍃 I hope everyone is well amidst the chaos 🌈

Sabbat Altar and Celebration Ideas for the Solitary Witch

YULE Altar ideas: Put mistletoe and pine on your altar; put a candle up there to represent the Sun; keep your Yule log on your altar; use symbols of the Sun; decorate with red, green, white, blue, and yellow (red and green for holly, white and blue for snow and wintery colors, yellow for the Sun). Celebration ideas: Kiss a consenting person under the mistletoe for luck; give gifts; have a feast; make magickal wreaths with herbs corresponding to the spell intent (you might use lilac, lavender, and camomile for a wreath that brings peace into your home).

IMBOLC Altar ideas: Use candles to represent the return of spring; make a cute little corn dolly; put a Brigid’s cross on there to honor her; decorate with yellow and green to represent the Sun and return of spring. Celebration ideas: Clean your house; have a self-dedication ritual (to a particular path, deity, philosophy, standard of life, etc.); clean off your working altar and redo it; cleanse and charge any tools or crystals you need to.

OSTARA Altar ideas: Use fake eggs, rabbits, and other symbols of fertility or spring; put some potted plants on the altar; place some packets of seeds you might be planning on growing; decorate with purple, yellow, green, white, and other spring, pastel colors. Celebration ideas: Paint and blow eggs (take proper precautions when handling raw eggs, obviously, especially if you’re putting your mouth on them); if you have a greenhouse, want a potted plant, or it’s warm enough where you live to plant outside, plant some seeds; buy a potted plant; organize your herb shelf.

BELTAINE Altar ideas: Make a mini Maypole for your centerpiece; smack some candles up in there, especially beeswax, if that’s in your budget; put some faery symbols, like little statues or bells or something like that; a jar of honey or some beeswax is always dope; if you’re comfortable with it, some people like to put representations of genatalia on their altar. Celebration ideas: Light an awesome bonfire (also be very cautious with this because fire can quickly turn dangerous); leave offerings to the faeries; have a dance outside; this is a good time to plan to have a handfasting ceremony or wedding; cast any love workings you’ve been meaning to do; if you’re an adult and have a person/people who consent to it, you could choose to have sex during this time (but do be safe!); many people try to conceive children during Beltaine.

LITHA Altar ideas: Symbols of the Sun and the Moon, feminine and masculine symbols if that’s a thing in your tradition; decorate with black and white to symbolize the night and day. Celebration ideas: Get up before the Sun rises and go to sleep after it sets, so you can experience the day and night; have a bonfire (again, safety is important); have a picnic; just spend a lot of time outside.

LUGHNASADH Altar ideas: Put bread and grain on the altar; maybe some apples and other autumn fruits; pinecones and leaves are fall symbols; decorate with red, orange, yellow, brown, and other colors of the season. Celebration ideas: Bake (especially make the cute little bread men); give an offering to the Earth; go to an apple orchard and pick some apples; share a feast with the family or your friends.

MABON Altar ideas: Wine, or grape juice if alcohol is unavailable for any reason; leaves and pinecones; apples; a money jar (see first celebration suggestion below). Celebration ideas: For a week or two before Mabon, put money you can afford to give up in a jar, and donate it to charity or a cause you support on Mabon; have another apple harvest; have another feast; do a ritual to honor the Earth.

SAMHAIN Altar ideas: Pop a few gourds in there, more apples if you want; pictures of the deceased; tools for divination and spirit contact; decorate with black, white, and orange. Celebration ideas: Divination, spirit communication (obviously only if you know what you’re doing); hold a seance or a dumb supper if that’s more comfortable for you; light a candle in the window for spirits (use a fake one if you want it lit all night); leave some milk and honey for the Fair Folk; give offerings to the dead; put up wards and shields if you’re one of the people who would prefer to avoid spirit activity.

February

                New Beginnings, Fresh start, Big Cleaning,                                              Banishing, Empowerment, Fertility, Purity.

Sabbat: Imbolc (February first) Full moon (different names for the same moon) : Stormmoon, Deadmoon, Snowmoon, Wild Moon

Is named Deadmoon because of lots of animals don’t survive the last bit of winter 

Colours: White, silver, black, red, yellow and blue. Decorations: Yellow flowers, lanterns Food & drinks: Herbal tea, chocolate, milk products, onions, garlic, seeds, apples and pears. Plants, trees & flowers: Laurel, oak, ivy, lavender, dandelion, snowdrop, crocus, sage and holly. Animals: Bear, fox, wolf, blue tit, hare, stork, dove, owl. Crystals: Amethyst, onyx, heliotrope, moonstoon, obsidian, topaz, pearls. February is the month for a big cleaning and to prepare for spring! January was a month to get sorted, now it’s the time for a fresh start. Cleanse your house or room and enjoy the last bit of winter.