A day to remember....

Yesterday i did not try yet another venture to find the cave Ntaveli. Instead we went to a near by park that i just love. It is my favorite park although there are many near us with excellent things to do. This does not have any scheduled activities or things to see, but the energy is amazing and the nature beautiful. We laid on the grass and watched the tree tops dance slowly and smelled the clean air. It was majestic. I could feel my mind slowing down and my soul able to soar. It was one of the most beautiful days of my life and yet i find myself unable to describe it, because it was filled with all these little things that make life wonderful.
I have been so tired these days. I had my period because it always comes on the New Moon, took a bunch of pain killers -for various pains- that always wear me down. And although during the New Moon i always feel like someone unplugged me and took all my strength away there is one good thing about it, i always sleep like a baby. But this time i did not have time to sleep. So, yesterday although it has been wonderful i have been quite sleep deprived and generally exhausted and i do not know about you, but when i am like that i am really bad on maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I ate so much candy. It was delightful. Chocolate, almond cookies filled with cream and a beautiful quiche. It has been long since i ate in a such decadent way and i have to admit there is something quite freeing in the process. There are still some left, but after that i am going to detox from sugar till the holidays come marching in with enough chocolate to make Willy Wonka jealous. After that wonderful day, all that yumminess and some sexy time with my husband*wink, wink* i slept for almost 11 hours and today i feel like i can conquer the world.
It feels as if i am heavily intoxicated, i believe that is  how drugs must feel like. One of those things can make a person relax but i had not had a day like that even on vacation. I really needed that.
Be blessed, be loved and remember to unwind! I love you all!

Straightening your hair...the witch's way!

So, i do not know if i have mention it here but my hair are very thin and long and curly with a tendency to frizz a lot. During the cold part of the year, in the very humid Athens it is impossible for me to make them straight. I do not like to overheat them, or use any chemical treatments, especially since i prefer them curly. It is the uncontrollable frizz that i could live without.
Last night i made a hair mask with warm olive oil, cinnamon and  honey( i also added castor oil, but you can skip that part) and i slept with it and this morning when i dried my hair like i usually do, they were shiny, straight and frizz free. Plus, the smell fantastic! I do not know yet, how they will react after i wash my hair tomorrow but it is definitely worth the trouble.
After i gave birth, breastfed for 8 months and had various hormonal issues my hair have not been well. I have tried many things but i was always hesitant to do any over night treatments, mainly because of, well...boredom.
I am not going to lie to you. It is messy and sticky and not the best sensation in the world, but sleeping with it is definitely doable. Once again something natural works wonders for me when the expensive hair treatment products i have been given lately as gifts( in a hint, hint, wink, wink kind of way!). I have read that it is supposed to burn at the beginning, but i did not feel anything, perhaps because i did not use cassia but actual cinnamon!
So, if you try it tell me how it goes!!

No cave...

..today either. Baby overslept. Someday, somehow I will get there!
Blessings to all!

Going to cave Ntaveli, take two.

Last Sunday, we tried. We dressed up the baby as if she was going to the North Pole, packed up food although it is just 10 minutes from here and off we went to find the cave. We went up the mountain but found nothing and on the way home we finally found a half broken sign. We took the dirt road up to where our poor little town car could take us and when we were about to take it by foot the zip of Melina Nefeli's coat broke. By that time the Sun had set and everything was turning into a dark blue colour. So, we gave up and told ourselves we will get there next week. 

Now, we have done everything right. Melina Nefeli is taking her nap really early and we know where to go. But the thing is we are no hikers and i hope the trail is not too hard! So, cross your fingers and think magical cave. I really hope that this time i will have something to share with all of you guys.

Raising a child in Witchcraft, yule decorations, anniversaries and an update

Greetings blogfriends. How are you? I am recovering after practice and i know i will be sore tomorrow. I have n't been in practice for  more than two weeks. First it was my back and then the cold, then my back again and today i was hurting but i felt i had to go. Melina Nefeli is healthy again although by the end of her antibiotics treatment she had an allergic reaction and it was scary. I had a feeling that it would happen but since after eight days of treatment she was still doing good , i thought it was all in my head. But just before she took her last pill, she started having a couple of red spots in the diaper area. My first thought was allergy but then i thought i am such a worrywart and it was just a diaper rash. But after a couple of hours her whole body was covered in red spots. I have the same problem. It is really hard to find an antibiotic that i am not allergic and even then i can not take them for a long  time and even then i can not take them with other medications.

So, now that we are stronger i am so thankful for everything we have. Especially today, because this is our 11th year anniversary with my husband. Before eleven years we kissed and  half an hour later we confessed each other our love through a text. We were just a couple of very  cute and innocent 19 year olds. We have been so blessed in our lives. I am unbelievably grateful for it.
Usually, we are the last people to decorate for Yule, since we do it on December 21st, but this year it just felt right.to do it early. So, after we celebrated Samhein on Friday i decided we should decorate our Yule tree. And so, this Sunday we decorated the house in a candy theme. It took a bit of convincing to make the baby to stop trying to eat the decorations. She finally understood they are fake.

 She is so fun these days. She makes  a few full sentences and we are constantly surprised by the things she notices. It is such a delight to get to see the world through the eyes of a child. We have not sang to her for two weeks and i can't wait for tomorrow night because we have arranged to sing to her before bed. Whenever we finish a song(or if there is a long pause) she claps her hands and says bravo(well, it sounds a bit more like baafvo to be exact). She is the cutest and most sweet audience i have ever had.

And also she is the most amazing little witchling i have ever seen. She loves it  when we cast spells. She mainly uses the mortar and pestle to crush flower petals and herbs but from time to time she will repeat a few words. On the day of the Solstice she will be exactly 18 months old and i am already a little worried about how i should handle the witchcraft thing. I practice my craft so openly, but how can you explain to a little child subtlety. I want to teach her to embrace all she is but i do not want her to get hurt. 

I am sure i will find the way to balance things and i believe honesty is the best approach. 

So, who else hurried and lit up a tree? 

Catching a cold, a magical cave and Samhein

So, Melina Nefeli kissed yet another little boy that lives in our apartment building. Actually, she was kissed by him, but that is not the point. Although, she rather enjoys the attention and there is not a cuter sight, especially when afterwards she tilts her head and smiles and he says i love you Melina(i mean come on, how can you put a stop to that?),  he just started preschool and she caught a virus that turned into an ear infection. I had to give her antibiotics. You all know how i feel about antibiotics. The doctor did not share my feelings. Of course, i also caught the bug and i fought it off with teas and tinctures(still fighting to be exact!). I gave her many herbal teas the day before she started the antibiotics, but they were not enough and she was in pain. Now, she is feeling great and she got quite a taste for tea and she is always asking for it, so there is not a spot in our entire home that did not have at some point tea spilled over it. I got rather frustrated that i gave in so easily to antibiotics the first time she caught a cold and that i was not prepared. Now i have  a rosemary and a echinacea tincture on the way, plus i stocked up in herbs and honey, but i can not stop feeling guilty and like a failure.
This is her and her dad. They were doing funny faces but when she realized i was taking a picture she let him hanging.

This is her playing in her room. I was torturing her by dressing her up and accessorizing her. Does n't she look like a fairy princess? 

Yesterday and the night before i was feeling like i had just collided with a running bus, so we did not celebrate All Hallows Eve at all. All i did to be exact was drink teas and go pee. It is a vicious cycle. But, i intend to celebrate Samhein, on its traditional time which if i am not mistaken, on this year falls on the 7th of November. It is the mid point between the Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice, on the 15th degree of Scorpio.

  These are some of our decorations a while back.

I would love to visit on that day  a very spiritual cave that has many lores and legends tied to it and that is not a very long trip from here to get to it. It is called Ntaveli cave and conspiracy theorists would have a blast with the fact that the military sealed it down.  It is sort of the Area 51 of Greece. There is also a story about a greek priest that is said to be taken down there by an elevator that supposedly appeared after some rocks  opened up and was lead into a place that was full of doors with the radiation sign on them.  There was an ancient temple of Pana there, as well as many little churches. There is a magnetic field, unexplained little red tornados, sightings of creautures, the small pond of the Nymphs and many other interesting facts about that cave. Although it is no longer possible to fully explore the cave you can still go there. It saddens me that a place with such spiritual and archaeological value has been completely destroyed by the greek government. I will not be able to visit it on Friday due to work, but i plan on going there very soon.  I will let you know what happened there and i will post pictures.
Until then, be blessed, be loved and be very, very magical?