Mum, who is God?

"Well, err, I, um..."

That was my response when little D asked the big question. How do you explain such a thing to a four year old?

I managed to pull my thoughts together a little bit and went on to say that "god" means different things to different people. I told him that some people think of God as a something that made and looks over everything. I relayed the creation story to him... Adam and Eve and all that stuff that I was told as a child. I did my best to retell the story without adding my own feelings. When I was done I asked him what he thought and if maybe God might be like that. He said it was a good enough story but that he didn't think that it sounded right. So I went on...

I explained that some people don't think that there is any such thing as a god. That for some people god is just a pretend thing that some people believe in. I asked what he thought about that. "No, that's no good." he replied. On we go...

Other people, like his mum and dad, believe that there are loads of gods and goddesses and that each one has a job to do. They each have something special that they must do or something to look after. There is someone to look after animals, another takes care of the seas and oceans, others take care of flowers ... there are an awful lot of jobs and there is a god or goddess to do each one.

"Mother Nature is a goddess (that's a lady god) and she takes care of loads of things. She helps plants to grow and leaves to change colour. She's like a mum who loves and takes care of nature. She has loads of different names, just like me. You call me Mum, daddy calls me N and other people use my full name and sometimes I'm called Mrs. K. I'm still one person, but I have a lot of names. What do you think of that?"

"That's good." he replied. I sighed with relief. "Mum? What's that box called they put dead people in?"

Kids.

Anywho, I'm thinking that the time is right for him to truly start learning about our path. He's always been exposed to images, conversations, divination, cleansing and magick but I've given it quite a bit of thought and I'm going to start getting more indepth with him. I think that our first step will be setting up our altar, and making offerings. I'm really excited about it and I hope that he'll be interested and excited too instead of rolling his eyes and losing interest after five minutes.

Wish me luck!
Mrs K.

Rest in Pieces

"BANG!" and there I am up like a shot in what I think is the dead of night. I swore I heard a very loud bang ... maybe a gunshot! ... hmmm, Mister K and Little D are still fast asleep. I check the clock and it's only 11:30pm. I must have dozed off and been dreaming. Since I'm up anyway, I cautiously make my way downstairs to check email and maybe do a little sewing.


"Drip. Drip. Drip" Hmmm, perhaps the tap hasn't been shut properly. Nope, the noise is coming from in the kitchen... WHAT THE?!?!? I takes a few minutes for the whole scene to sink in. Everything is wet. There is broken stuff all over the floor. I have no idea what has happened and then I see the cause of the "bang".

This was a two litre pop bottle.
It was filled with grape juice.
It exploded.


There was juice on the ceiling, behind the fridge, all over the walls, pretty much all over everything. One of my hand potted spell bottles broke in two pieces. My skeleton snowglobe was smashed. Worst of all my favourite witch went from this... (that's her on the left)





To this ...

I'm very sad about my smashed witch. Mister K brought her home from a trip to the dump and I had spent an hour cleaning her up. Poor thing. To be saved from the dump just to end up like this.

I had bought a brand new witch today. She was pretty much untouched except for a chip out of her kerchief. She didn't cost very much and I'm not completely emotionally attached to her (yet) so a wee mar doesn't bother me. I'm mighty sad about the other gal though.

Now, I am really happy about two things.

#1 that my kiddo wasn't in the kitchen when the bottle blew up. I'm happy none of us were. We are a family that eats around the dinner table every night (except pizza night) so if this had happened just a few hours earlier someone could have easily been hurt and I thank the Goddess and Gods that they protected us from that nightmare. I keep thinking to myself "What would have happened if the wee fella was standing beside that when it blew?" We are so fortunate!

#2 I'm pleased that Mister K had to wash the walls. I know that sounds terrible but sometimes I think that he forgets that someone has to do stuff like that or that you can't ignore 'chores' Now he'll be forced to remember that someone does indeed wash those walls and that floor, and that a bottle of fermenting grape juice does not like to be ignored.

My heart is still in my throat from all the 'excitement' but I think I may try to hit the hay and dream of better things than broken old witches.

Halloweeny

I love Halloween. There has always seemed to be something magical about Halloween night, I've always felt this way, even as a child. I am determined that little D will grow to feel that this is a special occasion too.

When D started school we were asked about what holidays we celebrated. We said that we were pagan and celebrated all major holidays as well as a few others. His teacher was confused. "Let's just say that Halloween is a really big deal in our house." I told her. She said that many parents don't even realize when Halloween is, that many totally forget about it. My own mother asks every year "What day is that on again?" Darn muggles. I hope that D will embrace Halloween as a special holiday for our family.

For the past two years we've had what we've dubbed a "Halloweeny Party" for D and his little friends. Basically just creepy food, a few games and a chance for parents to gab for a couple of hours. This year has been crazy busy and I'm sad we're not doing one but I am glad of a little less stress. Still this is a tradition I'll want to rekindle next year, we'll just have to find a way to make a go of it again. It's nice to share the Halloweeny goodness with others who may otherwise only toss a costume on their kid and trick-or-treat a few blocks.

A tradition that we have followed for a number of years now is a Dumb Supper. This can mean different things (a dinner eaten in silence, one that is served backwards... dessert first) but for us we set an extra place at the dinner table, a place for any spirit guests to join in our feast. We make a nice meal and toast our family, those that have passed and the year ahead.

We also do little things. Decorations are put out. Our altar is decorated for the season. Extra care is taken for offerings to our departed. Little D gets a homemade costume. We... errr, okay, I... buy too many pumpkins and Mister K shakes his head. And just like boxing day, we go out after Halloween and buy up as many deals on Halloween decorations as we can.

Anywho, here is a pic of D in this years costume. There are still a few finishing touches but it's almost there. He's such a ham.

Insomnia = Productivity

***If you are my vintage Halloween swap buddy look away now!

Okay, when little master D actually goes to sleep (and I don't fall asleep putting him to bed) I manage to get quite a bit done. I suppose it helps that I'm suffering from a wee bout of insomnia and need to keep myself busy with something or rot my mind watching the same episode of CSI Miami for the millionth time.

This evening I started on three more wizard paintings. See them above in various stages of development. Works in progress are fascinating and frightening at the same time. They still need loads of work and I'm not nearly as happy with these as I am my other two paintings just yet but they will get there in time. They just need a lot of love.

I've also sent off my package for my "Vintage Halloween" swap partner. My favourite thing that I made was this little box. It looks like a trunk on the outside but inside it's a wee Halloween shrine. I hope she likes it!

Tarot party anyone?

Although I was completely drained after doing the readings at the Gothic Gala I'm itching to do some more. I'm thinking of organizing a "tarot" party for early to mid November. What I have in mind is just getting a few people together to do readings, having some warm cider, conversation and a few nibbles to share. Nothing big, just a little gathering of people interested in this sort of thing. So, if you live in the Hamilton area and would be interested (especially if you are interested in getting in some practice doing your own readings) send me an email and I'll work on the details.

Missus K.

Readings, readings and more readings

I am totally wiped out.

Last night I attended Haunted Hamilton's Gothic Gala where I did short readings from about 8pm till almost 11pm. I have never read so many people in such a short time span. It was one person right after another, non-stop (except during the performances) and when I had to finish up to prepare for the seance there were still people waiting to be read. I really felt badly for those that had been waiting but all of the readers were all totally drained by that time. One of the other girls had counted reading over 30 people in the three hours.

It's funny reading people. Last night there were a few that came to my table and I just couldn't do it. I felt like the stones/cards weren't saying anything at all to me. Then others had readings that told an entire story. If nothing showed up in a private reading then I'd simply give back the person's money, in this situation it's just plug away and do your best to come up with something satisfactory.

There was a stone the kept coming up last night that basically means death and all things terrible. I was starting to think that everyone in the room was cursed or that we'd be struck by lightening but then I thought that perhaps it was something else so I ignored it during the readings. During the actual seance one of the girls felt some nastiness within our protected circle. A few of us went over and the general consensus was that some negativity had slipped through. It was strange walking to the spot that they directed. There was a feeling of pressure like being underwater. A few people felt ill, some needed to sit, one girl was almost in tears, we did hear some whispering but unfortunately there were no raps on the table, or bumps from the attic.

It was a fun night and I had a great time doing the readings but today I am tired and would kill for a nap.

It's October Already?!?

I cannot believe that October has snuck up on us so quickly. I realized today that I need to get cracking on spreading the Halloween love and decorate the Knickertwist house! Last year I did the silhouette window pictured above. It was a great effect and very inexpensive. I'd love to do it again... I just need to find the right 'theme'. I think it may need more witches stirring their brew and some green lighting for effect. I'll post pics of our haunt once I spookify the joint.

P.S. I see that I never let you all know how little D's school/care worked out. Our daycare agreed to have one of the other daycare workers pick the wee fella up on time and get him safely back to daycare. What a load off our minds that was! There are still a few kinks but we'll work it out. We are a fortunate family.