Samhain Blessings

I hope all of you have a very blessed Samhain. Don't forget to say hello to your ancestors today/tonight.

Many Samhain Blessings

Ash-Lynn

Skeleton Keys To Change

I have been seeing keys everywhere the last few months, but not just any keys: skeleton keys. So I decided to do a little research and find out if they had any meaning or symbolism.

It's not the best, but the Image is by Me(Ash-Lynn)

The information I found is that Skeleton keys are most often used as talismans. Skeleton keys relate to doors & gateways, and opening them, they can also mean change.

Romans used skeleton keys as a symbol of Janus, the god of doorways. (He kept out unwanted energy from the home.) Greeks used the keys as a symbol of the goddess Hecate, (she unlocked the mysteries of magic.)

One way to use a skeleton key as a talisman is to charge it with positive energy and carry it with you, when you're looking to go from an old situation and into a new one. such as a job or relationship. Using the skeleton key as a talisman can help you make the change more easily, because it represents the "unlocking" of new things.

So then I ask myself "what does this mean to me?" I first started seeing them just before I decided to change the name and direction of my blog. And recently my family and I were given the opportunity to go from living in a 3 bedroom 1 bath home into a 4 bedroom 2.5 bath home, the move would not be imminently and we would definitely need help to make this huge change in our lives.

I made the skeleton key talisman in the pic above and will be keeping it with me at all times in hopes that it helps us with this change.

My question to you is, "do you ever have signs or omen pop up into your lives and if yes what do you do about it?"

Deliciously Dark Literature

Ok so after my last post was so dark and depressing, I decided to share a 2 of my Deliciously Dark Literary favorites with you. The first is a new love and the second is a long time love.

The first item has become an addiction compliments of our wonderful party host Magaly. Yes, I'm talking about "Thorn In Red" . I was drawn into this story from the first post, and week after week it became my literary drug; and Magaly just kept feeding my addiction in that wicked way she does. I have read it at least a dozen times and can't wait to see where the series will go next. 

Below is Magaly's description of this series and a list of the chapters...

Thorn in Red is an accidental web serial. 

I created a scene for a writing contest, and thought that it would be as far as I would go with the Thorn family. Then Mattalina Thorn gets a red dress hoodie… Someone she loves is knifed-up… Her mom and aunt might be missing… And when the seventeen-year-old goes searching for answers, she finds violence and blood instead. Mattalina also finds herself lips-to-lips with Bran Van Dyke…  

1. “Brownies, Brews and Blades”
2. “Thorn at the Story Cauldron”
3. “Tea with a Thorn”
4. “A Sock Full of Pennies”
5. “Kissing, Not Singing”
6. “Flashed Back”
7. “Shaken”
8. “Skin Deep”
9. “Full of Wooden Handle and Sharp Blade”
10. “By Blood and Word”
11. “Tears and Tales”
12. “Crimson in the Woods”
13. “Thorns and Steel”
14. “Wildwoods Cave”
15. “Blood, Blade and Butterscotch” (final installment in Vol. 1 of Story Crafters)

If you have not read it yet you are missing the most Darkly Delicious thing on the web.

The next item/person on my list is Lestat de Lioncourt. I first met Lestat some years ago, when I was gifted a book called "Interview With A Vampire". Lestat was so deliciously dark in that first meeting that I had to have more, so I continued to see him through book after book, over and over again; still to this day when the mood is right and I need something truly dark and oh so delicious I'll pick up one of his books and say hello. 

You can find Lestat in the following books

Interview With A Vampire

The Vampire Lestat

Queen Of The Damned

The Tale Of The Body Thief

Memnoch The Devil

Blackwood Farm

Blood Canticle 

Do you have a favorite darkly delicious piece of literature? 

This is my forth post for the "All Hallow's Grim, So Dark So Good 2013" blog party, If you want to read post from others participating in this blog party, go to Pagan Culture and scroll through the side bar.   

Embracing The Darkness Inside

Most if not all of us have it, that place in our minds where we keep them......... You know the Dark Thoughts, the ones we run from, the ones that remind us of the pain or hurt we have suffered.

Some people try and lock those thoughts away, or dwell on them to the brink of self destruction. Then there are the ones who embrace the darkness and grow from it, learn from it and let the darkness brink them to the light.

I am such a person, I choose to embrace the darkness and grow from the pain of my past experiences. It took a long time for me to do this, due to childhood abuse and abuse at the hands of my ex-husband; I walked in the darkness for a very long time.

My ah ha moment came about a year after my divorce. I was dating a wonderful man(my now husband), but I was not 100% committed to the relationship. I was always waiting on the darkness to come, so much so that I nearly drove him away. Then one day while talking to my aunt she said "Ash-Lynn if you don't let go of the past, you will always be the victim".

Hmm could she be right? I decided to test this theory of hers. So I sat down with my wonderful man and shared my past hurts with him, I explained, the reason I always looked like I was waiting to be punched in the face, was because I was. He was amazing. He held me and we talked for hours; then he did the most amazing thing, he held my face in his hands and said "I would die before I hurt you or let anyone else hurt you, I love you!" 

That day I took my first step out of the darkness and started to heal. Don't get me wrong it's still there, that dark place in my mind; lurking, waiting to overwhelm me. I still visit the darkness from time to time, we all should. The trick is not to stay there, take a look around, reminisce, and when you have found what you were looking for in the darkness, let it bring you back to the light.

I wanted to share my story with you not for sympathy, but to show you that the darkness is not always bad, it's there to remind us of who we are, where we came from, and how far we have come in our lives. So, don't run or hide from the darkness, embrace it, learn from it and always remember with out the darkness we can't see the light.  

If you liked this post and want to read more about the Darkness check out the "All Hallow's Grim 2013.....So Dark, So Good" blog party over at Pagan Culture. Just scroll through the side bar to see what other have to say about the darkness.

It's All About Balance

Today is day 2 of All Hallow’s Grim 2013… So Good, So Dark, and I wanted to address the common thought of all things dark are evil and all things light are good; more specifically finding the balance between the two.

“Good and bad is tricky," she said. "I ain't too certain about where people stand. P'raps what matters is which way you face.” - Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad

Are you a Good Witch or a Bad Witch? Neither, I'm a balanced Witch. Let me explain. I believe all people not just witches have a good side and a dark side, some people only want to walk(or think they walk) only in the light or good side, others are walk a dark path(maybe they wanted a cookie), but I choose to straddle the the line between the two.

I do my best to raise my daughters with morals, but I also teach them to never take crap from anyone. I have to admit some days and some people make raising them this way and walking this line very hard at times. On more than one occasion, I have been tempted to go full on evil, but I will not set out to harm anyone; I am not above giving Karma a helping hand. 

I often meditate to help me to walk my line, to keep my balance. I say my line because it's a line I have drawn for myself, it's where I have found my balance, and have my moral compass set to. Not everyone has the same line/moral compass. What some may find bad or wrong, others are ok with doing. It's up to each of us to find our own balance, I find my balance in my family and in nature, I also find it in the wonderful community I have found through blogs, Facebook, and YouTube. It helps to know their are others out there walking a tightrope, and trying to stay balanced.

Where do you find your balance?

Stop by Pagan Culture and read more from the wonderful bloggers who have joined the "All Hallow's Grim" blog party, just check the side bar for more.

Watching From The Darkness & Shadows...

The Party has started!!!! Magaly at Pagan Culture has launched the All Hallow's Grim 2013 blog party. 

The aim of All Hallow’s Grim 2013… So Good, So Dark is to use our artistic power, intellect and heart to create posts that show the delicious goodness that blooms in the dark.

With that in mind, I have been trying to figure out what I wanted to write about on day one of "All Hallow's Grim" and I decided to share one of my banners and a true ghost story.

14 years ago, while I was pregnant with my middle witchlett, My oldest daughter 3 at the time; woke me up in the middle of the night and told me she saw a man watching me sleep. I naturally freaked out and called my then husband home from work. 

When he got there he checked the entire house, doors windows, yard, the barn where our horses were kept and there was no sign that anyone had been on our property or in our house. This would be repeated a few more times during my pregnancy.

About a month before the baby would make her grand debut, while at my ex's aunts house helping her go through some old family photos, My daughter jumps up and takes a picture from her daddies hand and says "that's the man who watches mommy sleep" we all just stared at each other is amazement because the man is the picture was my husbands grandfather and she had never met him; he died 6 months before she was born, and that was the first time she had seen a picture of him. 

We all just sat there thinking, well that's really odd but kinda cool at the same time, then we got another twist thrown at us; our daughter was not do to be born till mid April but she decided to show up almost 2 months early at the end of February and to all of our amazement not only was she perfectly healthy she was born on her great grandfathers birthday. 

I like to think he knew she would come early and that he was watching over us to make sure she was ok. 

A few things have happened in my daughters and my life since this story, my oldest daughter has developed a love for the paranormal, my middle one soon to be 14 is the living embodiment of her great-grandfather and I have learned that our love ones never really leave us, they're just waiting in the darkness and shadows to watch over us and keep us safe.

If you want to read more post from the All Hallow's Grim 2013, So Dark, So Good blog party just click here and check out the side bar for Party Post.  

Welcome to October!!!

I am so excited that October is finally here! The veil is thinning, the air is turning crisp and cool, and my oldest daughter is turning 17; oh, did I mention Samhain is right around the corner?

I'd also like to mention a few other great things happening this month: first, Samhain's Sirens has kicked off the Witchy festivities with a bang and by bang I mean 2 awesome give-a-ways, so if your not following them you should start do so quickly so you don't miss anything.

The next thing I am so excited about is the wickedly talented Magaly Guerrero @ Pagan Culture will be finishing up the first part of the journey that is Thorn In Red, I have grown quite addicted to this twisted take on a classic story, and I can't wait to see where she takes us next.

There is a lot more I could gush over, but I'll save that for another day and post; for now, I will show you the Witchy finds I made today.

I got these awesome cookie cutters at Joann's

Went to a new(only) Witchy shop in town and picked up the two lovelies above

I also got this lovely bloodstone, and it's friends Moonstones, and Garnets 

I hope you are all having a wonderful start to your October, I know I am.

Blessings

Ash-Lynn