Back from PUF off to StarFest

I am back from PUF and have to say I had a great time. Christopher Penczak's main ritual was amazing and spiritually altering. I can't express in words how grateful I am. Of course, another Llewellyn Worldwide author team was at PUFthis year. River and Joyce Higgenbotham were in attendance and presented their two books that have been released through Llewellyn Worldwide.

What PUF event would be complete without the attendance of Dorothy Morrison and MR Sellars? They
seem to attend every year and bring the party with them!

I also met Gina Estevez who was a beautiful soul and had much in common with me in regards to how I view the tarot। We shared dinner together and she is a soul I would love to spend more time with.

I had spent time before with Christopher Penczak's and thoroughly enjoyed him। Stone went to one of his workshops and found it interesting। I was very tired this trip and did the Birthing Hereditary Witchcraft classes back to back, so I didn't get to go to very many classes myself. I went to the Writer's Work shop and enjoyed
that seminar as much as I did last year.

Stone and I both enjoyed spending time with Ellen Dugan. I couldn't get her website to work so I haven't listed it. However, I looked over the books she has also written through Llewellyn Worldwide and got pretty excited about her. She is funny and very down to earth. I can't wait to be at other festivals with her and wear our very none witchy clothing together. She also took me aside and gave me a big huge and said, "Welcome to the family. I think your going to be great!" It was so uplifting to have such loving support. She is all about gardening and we didn't even have time to talk about my urban garden (I know have two green tomatoes in my tomato container. Although, I lost my pepper plant when the basil feel off the ledge and crushed it. It even had a baby pepper on it I was not happy!!!! My lemon balm is unstoppable; however, and I wish I knew more about drying herbs so that it wouldn't go to waste). I encourage everyone to pick up Ellen's books and book her for events. You will get a
vivacious, warm and welcoming author who is grounded in the earth and the magic we can all tap into there.

I also got to meet Shadowdancer. You can also friend Shadowdancer on MySpace। Jack, the lead singer was featured in Modern Witch Magazine's most recent issue and is the author of American Shamanism. As I listened to Jack sing with his group, I turned to Stone and said, "Damn, he does NOT suck!" Stone answered, "I know.
How cool is that?" His music blends Celtic and Appalachian influences and still sings about the gods, goddesses and witches that stir my soul. I was absolutely enchanted! I encourage you to get his CDs and order his book.
I found him to be a man of depth and of experience we would all benefit from exploring.

Stone went to a class taught by Scott Summers called "Exploring the Male Mysteries." Scott recommended
some books that I don't recall at the moment (maybe Stone could comment and give us the name of the books in question।) Stone was really inspired by Scott's workshop and actually wants to order the books. In my world, that is a big impact. Scott is a member and High Priest of Summerland Grove Pagan Church.

Stone attended the seminar with a new friend, Thor, who is a Buddhist and an Asatru. Those who follow my blog know that Tree Bear, my son, follows both paths and this was just too interesting to meet someone else who had blended the paths. Thor is a Division Manager with the Florida Pagan Gathering organization. FPG is one of the larger gatherings in Florida and Stone and I camped near them exchanging common ideas and thoughts.
Thor is interested in Quantum impact upon magic and although we never got around to talking about it, I feel that conversation in our near future. We also talked about the balance needed between the God and Goddess and how FPG was striving to find that balance in their presentations. It was a glorious conversation and I hope FPG will have me down there in 2009 (of course, only if I get my damn Cheetoes®) ((LOL)).

All in all, it was fun and relaxing and now it is time to pack up and turn around and start getting ready for StarFest.

I am off to Pagan Unity Festival. So I won't be on line for a few days. Ya'll have a great weekend and I will give a full report when I return!

http://www.myspace.com/diafwt

Blogger won't do what I want it to so here is a link so you can see and read my blog the way it was intended. I know someone for my birthday is going to be upgrading my site and I can ditch blogger forever. Boy I look forward to it!!!

Click on my blog and read the 1st two that come up for pictures.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

05/10/2008

Contact:
Cam deWelles 229.344.1734 or camenaedewelles@juno.com

LYDIA M. CRABTREE SIGNS WITH INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING HOUSE

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. – Local author Lydia M. Crabtree, expert on information about building Family Coven^TM, has signed a contract withLlwellyn Publications Worldwide, Inc. to publish her book Family
Coven: Birthing Hereditary Witchcraft.

“I know that this sounds trite, but it is a dream come true,”
the Cartersville resident says. “Llewellyn’s ability to promote
and distribute authors is unparalleled within our genre. So to
be picked up by them, it’s not just acknowledging that what I
have to say is important, it means that what I have to say is
going to be distributed.”

Family Coven^TM: Birthing
Hereditary Witchcraft
is a step-by-step
guide that provides families with a work-at-your-own-pace
process of infusing their lives with spiritual significance.
Crabtree uses her own research with modern neopagan families,
proven results, illustrations and charts to provide families
with the most usable techniques and practices for practicing
spirituality as a family.

“Family spirituality is a topic that has been completely
overlooked in the neopagan community,” explains the 37-year-old
Crabtree. “There has been a focus on children; there’s been a
focus on solitaries; there’s been a focus on covencraft. But the
idea that the family unit is a spiritual unit is the message
that I’m conveying.”

From mundane aspects of household chores, budgeting money and
organizing school schedules to Sabbat rituals, Family Moon (full
moon) celebrations and celebrating every stage of a growing
child’s life, Family Coven^TM: Birthing Hereditary
Witchcraft offers neopagan families an opportunity to raise
their children in a spiritual home infused with values, fun and
an intimacy they have not known before.

“This first book not only defines, explains and explores Family
Coven^TM – which is my term for family spirituality –
it also begins to teach families how they can create that legacy
of magic that many families are looking for,” says Crabtree.

Family Coven^TM:
Birthing Hereditary Witchcraft, the first book for a
planned six in a series, is slated for publication this fall.
Llewellyn Publications Worldwide, Inc. is the largest publisher
of pagan literature in the world, including fiction, nonfiction,
spirituality, self-help and reference materials. Crabtree is the
most recent author joining with the Llewellyn Publications
Worldwide, Inc. family.

“Family Coven is a revolutionary concept in family spirituality
for people of all faiths and traditions,” says

Jonathan Ware, Crabtree’s legal advisor. “It gives me great
joy as Lydia's attorney to have assisted her in bringing this
work of light into the world. I am excited about the many lives
it is certain to touch and transform."

After 10 years of studies in the occult and Wicca, Crabtree,
together with her husband priest, Tony, formed their own Family
Coven^TM in order to provide a safe environment in
which to raise their family. Soon thereafter, the Crabtrees
cofounded
Family
Wiccan Traditions International, which promotes a child’s
family as the first and most important coven in a witch’s life.
Crabtree has thus been able to utilize her Bachelor’s degree in
Psychology and minors in Theater and Journalism in both the
mundane and spiritual worlds to present meaningful, entertaining
and informative seminars, workshops and writings.

Crabtree has recently signed with

Modern Witch Magazine
as a regular features contributor to their Life and Family
section and as a columnist for “Ask a Pagan Parent.” Awarded 1st
Place in the

SpiritOne writing contest in the nonfiction category,
Crabtree has had her work published in the Family Focus section
of CIRCLE Magazine and has published various articles and
essays regarding family spirituality with online newsletters and
e-zines, including
The Witches’
Voice and
Earth Spirits
Web 2.0. Currently, Crabtree is working to complete the
first book in a series about creating a family spiritual
tradition at home called Family Coven^TM: Birthing
Hereditary Witchcraft.

Beltane, Gardens, Birthdays, Graduations

Well, I just got word that I can finally make a HUGE announcement within the next week or so. Jeez, the wheels of life run SLOW sometimes.

I thought I would blog about a few things that have peeked my interest of late. It is the Beltane Season I have put together my garden and decorations for the season. I made the wreath with some half off flowers from my craft store, a dowel rod cut down, some red and white ribbons and some hot glue. I painted the dowel rod white, used a wire tie to secure the ribbons to the top and then hid the wire tie with some strategically placed petals hot glued on. I was really proud of how it came out and felt like it deserved some publicity.

I used the same dowel rod in different places to make other maypole around the house. Below find pictures of the maypole piece on my altar.

On my family altar I used a recycled glass spice jar filled with sand to give weight to the bottom. I left on the shaker plastic piece and then filled it in with flowers. This works so well. I can change the sand and the color of the flowers and the season is reflected in this little jar.

On my muse altar I used a candled jar filled with some rose quartz I had laying around, the flowers and made up another maypole for it. The whole project of decorating the house took no more than thirty minutes.

I few weeks ago I took pictures of my garden to blog about and wouldn't you know that I never got around to blogging. Here I am again, so I took knew pictures. These turned out better because must everything is now blooming. I didn't take pictures of the new aloe vera plant I have inside or the ivy that got repotted. I also bought a begonia in red and am happy to say that it is blooming again. YEA! The large pot with the

marigolds in it will have pole beans rising out of the center when they sow.



I just celebrated my birthday. We celebrated a week early so that we could include Tree Bear. For those who do not know I am a karaoke fanatic and here you see me karaoking to my heart's content. I sang Melissa Ethridge, Billy Joel and Smash Mouth with Tree Bear. We had a blast. Also pictured is Becky Hamilton (Ion Dragonstone) and a very shy Suz, who doesn't like her picture taken. The cake was red velvet and while celebrating my progressing age, we also celebrated Becky becoming a licensed massage therapist! GO BECKY! We all chipped in and got her a rolling suitcase to carry her oils, towels and other massage essentials in, as well as, one starch white sheet set. She was very happy about it as you can tell!

Just ignore the bizarre singing look on my face, I was super happy that Tree Bear Sang with me. I have a commitment from him to return to this same place and karaoke together again sometime.

I promised Suz, has we all struggled and fought with her to take her picture that I would put the goofiest one on my blog. This is the winner. Becky had given up the fight because of the spectacle we were making in the restaurant. I love you Suz! Thanks for the chocolate and wine dipping sauces, you rock!

In this picture is all of Dragonstone Family Coven who were present. From left to right you have Becky (Iona), me (Dia), Tree Bear and Stone (Tony). I think just having family present and having them let me do something I like was a great gift!

Born to Shine
Today I was thinking about shinning, shimmering, glowing with the inner light that we are born with. It reminded me of this song. I was thinking about how sometimes our lives doesn’t prepare us to shimmer or shine. Sometimes we learn that when we shimmer or shine punishment happens. We get hit into place. We get tossed out of the boat. Somewhere we have learned that shimmering and shinning costs us.
Suddenly, I want to shimmer and shine like I was born to. "Well behaved women rarely make history."
SHAWN MULLINS
ShimmerSharing with us what he knows
Shining eyes are big and blue
And all around him water flows
This world to him is new
This world to him is new
To touch a faceTo kiss a smile
New eyes see no raceThe essence of a child
The essence
He’s born to shimmer, he’s born to shine
He’s born to radiateHe’s born to live, he’s born to love
But we’ll teach him not to hate
True love it is a rock
Smoothed over by a stream
No ticking of a clockTruly measures what that means
Truly measures what that means
And this thing they call our time
Heard a brilliant woman say
She said you know it’s crazy
How I want to try to capture mine
I think I love this woman’s way
I think I love this woman’s way she shimmers, the way she shines
The way she radiates
The way she lives, the way she loves
The way she never hates
Sometimes I think of all of this that can surround me
I know it all as being mine
But she kisses me and wraps herself around me
She gives me love, she gives me time
And I feel fine I feel fine
But time I cannot change
So here’s to looking back
You know I drink a whole bottle of my pride
And I toast to change to keep these demons off my back
Just get these demons off my back
Cause I want to shimmer, I want to shine
I want to radiate
I want to live, I want to love
I want to try to learn not to hate
Try not to hate
We’re born to shimmer, we’re born to shine
We’re born to radiate
We’re born to live, we’re born to love
We’re born to never hate

So I have tried twice to blog this week and both times the blogs have turned into articles. I have submitted one to Celtic Whispers, Spirit One, Wise Pagan, The Daily Spell and Witches' Voice. We'll see if anyone bites. One of the blogs turned article is going to be submitted for print publication. I'll let you know when and if it gets picked up.

Speaking of print magazines, Modern Witch Magazine has signed me to be a regular contributor to this new publication. I will be presenting features and a regular column entitled Ask a Pagan Parent. I have been working with the editors there and have really enjoyed the experience. Their first issue is out around Beltane, 2008. Be sure to ask your local store to carry this new, cutting edge magazine.

The other things that has happened recently, is that I have slide into a new computer. Some may have heard that my Husband Priest's computer caught on fire (literally!) about six months ago. I smelled and saw thick black smoke and went charging into the office to find my Husband Priest sitting beside his tower, reaching his hands into the flames and pulling out the hard drives. I run for a towel to smother the fire and ask him why he didn't worry about putting it out. "I can lose the computer, I just can't lose these hard drives!" he shouted as we both worked to put out the flames.

Since that time, my Husband Priest has been down a computer. He has a laptop provided by his work (naturally); however, he tries to keep his work and home computer use separate. He hasn't been able to do this for the past six months. My tower is upgradable and much younger than the inferno tower. We have been talking for months about replacing my computer with a laptop and sending my tower over to Stone's desk. Last weekend, we finally did this. Additionally, Stone purchased a laser jet printer so I wouldn't feel bad about printing entire chapters of my book to proof.

When we got home, Stone let me borrow his ergonomic mouse. It is wireless type and allowed me to navigate the new computer a bit easier than the touch pad would. Needless to say, he is never getting it back. I would not have thought it could make such a difference; however, I was totally wrong. I became so fond of this mouse, that I can see an ergonomic keyboard in my future.

I went from Windows 2000 to Vista and the latest version of Office. It has taken some getting used to and has been, at times, very frustrating. Stone who has been working in these environments longer than I have, has had to bale me out a few times, which irritates me. However, I am getting the hang of it. For the first time in my life, I am using my computer to track my schedule. I didn't like doing it because I couldn't take the computer with me. Now that I am mobile, it has changed everything.

I continue to study Geomancy and Sacred Geometry in my "spare" time. Tree Bear took the flue this week and we got back his allergy results. It turns out he is allergic to cats and only cats. I was sure it was dogs. Of course, the only animals we have are cats. Cassandra and Moriganna have been with us for years and I just can't see getting rid of them. Tree Bear, however, had their bags packed, ready to go and buy a pure breed dog of some kind. We have had to stave him off. His bedroom door is shut for now as we try to assess what can be done. Any suggestions are welcome!

Which brings me to my last little bit of news for the day, Cassandra has been acting very strange. She has been extremely protective of Stone and I. Last night, Stone and I were both working after putting Tree Bear to bed. We hear Cassandra meowing her hello meow as she comes into the office. Stone looks over his desk and bursts into laughter. I lean around mine to see Cassandra carefully presenting us with a AAA battery. She goes over to Stone who praises her for her "catch." I retrieve the battery and put it where it belongs. She then gets up on Stone's desk where his architectural drawings are and sprawls out, her obvious reward for capturing and delivering a AAA battery.

Cassandra has also decided that Stone's trashcan is her new hideout and can be regularly found in it asleep. Go figure. I guess it is the talk of having to find them other homes that makes me sad. When I am writing all day by myself, it is these girls that keep me company. I regularly talk to them and when I get upset they come running to calm me. I hope we can find a way to keep Tree Bear healthy and our familiars with us. The kitten picture in this blog is Cassandra. Moriganna is her daughter and is in the framed picture. We kept the black cats because that is what witches have – naturally!