I’m going on a trip…

I will spend most parts of June a long way from home: I’m finally going on a long planned trip to the USA. Been saving for years. This means I’ll be in New York City on Midsummer. I have started to look around to see if there’s some marking or ritual I will be able to partake in. I love Midsummer, and really want to mark or celebrate it in some way.

I’m not sure how good Google is, and I’ve had a look over at WitchVox. So far, the luck has been so-so. I will continue to look around, but if someone knows about a place to look, or about someone to contact, please let me know.

May Day 2013

I celebrate my May Day on the evening of 1 May. Since I’m a socialist as well as a pagan, I use the start of the day to do political stuff (but that has no place in this blog). So, even though the start of the day had been mostly sunny, but very cold, the evening was wet and rainy. This didn’t stop me from going out in my rain gear and pick something green for my altar.

I only had a small marking, as I didn’t feel to well, but at least it was something. I focused on being there, as well as making toasts to things and giving thanks.

After the ritual, I went out and made an offering of wine to Mother Nature and the goddess.

Here are some photos of my May Day altar:

Naming the sabbaths

I have been doing quite a bit of thinking about the names of the sabbaths lately. As I’m not Wiccan, I don’t find it very natural to use the Wiccan names of the sabbaths, and instead I have decided to use other, and to me more fitting, names. I have made a sort of calendar under, with the dates for 2013 and the name I’ve chosen to use for the sabbaths. I will try to use these names from now on. I have picked both an English and a Norwegian name, as I am a Norwegian, after all.

Date	English name	Norwegian name
1 February	Festival of Lights	Lysfestival
20 March	Spring Equinox	Vårjevndøgn
1 May	May Day	Maidag
21 June	Midsummer	Midtsommer
1 August	Harvest Festival	Innhøstningsfestival
22 September	Autumn Equinox	Høstjevndøgn
31 October	All Souls Night	Alle sjelers natt
21 December	Midwinter	Midtvinter

My next step will be to make a sabbath calendar, with the dates for a few years forward. I will make a page for it, as it will be easier for myself to find it again.

A New Home

I recently bought a new flat, and I am very excited about moving in to it. I am planning on going there today, as I want to do a house cleansing. I don’t thing there are specific bad energies there, not that I’ve noticed when I’ve been there, but it’s in a way something I want to do to make it mine. The plan is to live there for many years to come. Or at least I hope so.

So now I’m looking around the web to find some inspiration, before heading there to do the cleansing itself. I will bring my BoS, and take notes of what I do, which I think will come in handy later.

Imbolc 2013

I woke up to a cold and crispy morning. There had been a light snowfall during the night, and the ground was covered by a thin layer of snow, almost like frost. Started my workday with a session of yoga, and it felt absolutely right for Imbolc. It was a good start of the day.

Originally my plan was to leave work a bit early, and go straight home, but I had so much to do, so that I had to stay a bit longer than planned. It was a sunny day, so instead of going straight home, I ended up going to my favourite coffee place to drink coffee and read my book. It was lovely.

I made mac’n'cheese for dinner. Very fitting for Imbolc, in my opinion, and it tastes great. I have leftovers too, which is always a plus.

Even though I had been doing a lot of thinking about Imbolc for the last month, I ended up doing a rather simple ritual. There was the lighting of candles, of course (Imbolc is candlemass, after all), and such, and I read tarot in the circle. I have in general been working more on tarot lately.

All in all a good Imbolc, and I hope you had a blessed one too!

My Imbolc altar 2013

Natural moisturiser

A little while ago a friend of mine gave me the advice to scrub my hands with coffee grounds (I have very dry skin on my hands, especially during winter). Since I use an aeropress, I can easily get a handful of the stuff pretty much every day (I usually drink coffee every morning). I must admit I was a tad bit sceptical at first, but it really has done wonders to my skin! My hands aren’t as dry as they used to, and I get less eczema! And, I tell you, that is an unexpected bonus! It’s important that you just rinse your hands with water after scrubbing them (which I usually do for 1-2 minutes), though, and do NOT use soap. If you’re as fortunate as me, you’re hands will feel as soft as a baby’s after a short while!

No ‘poo

I have just started my no ‘poo project. Since I didn’t wash my hair every day before (I washed my hair 2-3 times a week), I’m quite excited to see if this is any different. Right now I’m not sure if I’m noticing anything, but it has only been a couple of days. In the meanwhile I’m trying to find articles and such on the web to read.

Have you any experience with no ‘poo you’d like to share?