Get off your broom challenge

I am still here! Still fighting the good fight, although i have n't been sharing it with you! Since the challenge begun i have lost 8 kgs. It used to be 10 but that did n't last! This week is the week before my period. It is coming, any minute now, and i have been so hungry all the time. I eat and after 10 minutes i am famished! What is up with that? I also gave in into the ultimate temptation at this time of the month! Chocolate! You see, i thought this year i would be baking for everybody cakes. So, i took a small bag of chocolate drops and one of chocolate glaze. They both ended up in my stomach. In 5 days i ate them all and wanted more. I did not get any, but still i wanted it.
Other than that my eating was very healthy. Many mini meals(lately maybe too many!) and lots of vegetables! I have been consuming lots of water and teas, and coffees too(i refuse to quit!). My work outs have been pretty decent. Except for the week i have been sick, i go to the kick box practice 3 times a week and i have the bruises to prove it. That is a lot of fun. I still think i am dieing during the warm ups(or wishing it, so they would end), but when the kick box actually starts i am on fire. I even enjoy the bruises. They remind me of what i accomplished.
I decided that 4 times a week is a difficult target for now. If i go 3 times one week and 4 the other that would be 14 practices a month. Half of the month working out is still amazing!
Now the holidays are upon us. There has n't been a year that i have n't gained weight till now. Lets see if i make it this year. I think the key is to have some ground rules.
1. No drinking. That's a tough one, but lets face it, these are empty calories.
2. No more than a candy per day.
3. If there is pie on the table, no more carbs besides salad.
4. Working out whenever there is practice.
5. Lots of water, as little salt as possible.
I am wishing happy and healthy holidays however you choose to spend it full of love, light and magick.
Be blessed.
Georgina.

A bonfire to remember!

Greetings blogfriends. The Winter Solstice is fastly approaching and i am excited and very well prepared for it. I have hung red ribbons on my trees in the balcony and red bows on the indoors trees. I have made with my family stars out of beautiful paper and stuck them to the walls. I have sprinkled glitter on pine cones and put them in my pots. And a few christmas lights here and there. I have decorated oranges with clove, made wreaths and beautiful pentagrams. But most importantly i am in a festive mood, ready to bake and sing and well celebrate.
But the night of Yule is not going to be about carols. In the darkest night of the year i am going to contact the darkest parts of my psyche. I am going to work on my shadow, acknowledge it and let go of everything that keeps me down. My fears, my weaknesses, my darkest of thoughts will be burned into the fireplace. For that occasion i have collected many twigs, pine needles, herbs, leaves and flowers. For every leaf, or twig that goes into the fire i let go of something that haunts me and gives me pain. It is a process i have begun at Samhein and will be completed at Yule. The first time i did that i had a bunch of natural items to burn in front of me and i remember thinking that i could n't possibly come up with so many things to let go of. A little bit later i found myself searching the house for herbs and things i could also burn. I did not want it to end. The feeling of freeing my soul and letting my spirit soar was nothing like i ever felt before. The Esbats that followed i repeated the process, waiting for that moment of ultimate release, waiting for Yule. So i collected A LOT! of things to go to the fire. For a while there was no room left in the coffe table to put a plate or a glass. My friends thought i have gone completely mad and felt sorry for Petros that had to put up with all the plants and flowers. I thought they were lovely, but everybody else thought it was too much except for a few witch friends that loved the smells, colours and energies.
I guess we are a weird group of people, quirky and perhaps a bit mysterious. But that is part of our charm do n't you think? What have you planned for the darkest night of the year?
Be blessed, be loved and be very very magickal!
Georgina

A gift of magick

Since magic is altering the reality it should not surprise me when it is changing my life. But the feeling is overwhelming, and i am eternally grateful for it. It is molding my very soul into what i am supposed to become and guiding me towards the place i am supposed to go.
In witchcraft it is not just the effects that matter. The sensation of the experience takes your breath away, and makes you feel both more powerful and smaller than you ever felt.
Today i had the need to do something good for my mom and friend of hers and my husband. I just made one magical rosepetal for each of them(i have given you the recipe for it last year). It was not a ritual i intended to do. It was not something new, or elaborate but it was intense and powerful. The feeling caught me by surprise.
I thank the Goddess for it and all the gifts She has given me. And the smells are following me around everywhere i go as if it was spring.
I know i probably am not making any sense to you, but i needed to write this down and share it.
Be blessed my loves, be loved, be cherised, be healthy, lucky and grateful!

Herbal remedy-potion for colds

Greetings my beautiful blogfriends. How have you been? I am recovering from yet another cold without antibiotics. I am almost healed. My thumb is still in a splint but so much better, and Mercury is going to remain retrograde for just 5 more days. Yeih! Of course the total lunar eclipse on Saturday is going to be noticeable. I can't way for the madness to end. How are you holding on?
I am fighting my cold with magic and herbalism. It made me listen to my body and pay better attention. I made huge pots of this herbal remedy daily: St John's wort, chamomile, green tea, cinnamon, rosemary, sage, mountain tea(sideritis) and honey. I chose the herbs based on both the medicinal and magical properties. I charged with golden healing energy each cup. Also i chanted the spell for every cup as well.
The spell in greek is:
"Με τη δυναμη της Γαιας,
ο,τι θελω φερνω εις περας,
απ'την αρρωστια θεραπευομαι,
με φως κι αγαπη προστατευομαι"
Which translates:
With Gaias power,
I make my wish come true,
From my sickness i am healed,
i am protected with love and light.
As you can probably imagine it rhymes in greek and sounds so much better. I am glad i did that. It gave me strength and when i use antibiotics i feel weak. I usually take them because i have a sensitivity when it comes to my tonsils and if i do not treat the problem early it may get really bad. I feel grateful it is almost over, and i will get to enjoy the magical days that follow. After the Esbat the Solstice is just around the corner. There are decorations to be made and hang, gifts to be made and given, pastry to be baked and eaten. Not to mention, potions, candles, spells, rituals, creams, baths. I can't wait!
Be blessed, be loved and be very very happy!

Blood magick

Greetings blogfriends. How have you been? I missed you guys a lot. I am currently recuperating from a thumb injury. My hand is in a functional splint. It is starting to feel much better and it rarely hurts anymore. This is the main reason i have n't blogged in a while. But i have n't fallen out of our "get off your broom" challenge. I have lost yet another kilo. Naturally, with this whole situation, i have taken a few days off training, but this week i managed to go 3 times. Of course i am not fighting against anyone with just my good hand, or do any push ups. But i am there, doing my best.
During the last full moon i have initiated a young promising witch. I have helped many witches in the past, guided them and showed them parts from my family tradition, but never initiated one. You see, this particular ritual is from mother to daughter. I do not think it has ever happened in the past like that. But it felt right. When i read what i just wrote it feels weird. It sounds all so strict and formal. And the way i have been taught of the Craft was always so simple, natural and fun. But i guess it has a few formal parts.
This specific ritual involves drawing blood. We pierce the index finger of the initiative and burn a few drops of her blood. Blood always relates with binding, promises and offerings. Because of its symbolic value and significance it triggers many different emotions amongst the pagan community. I believe that it holds great power and should be used on certain occasions, as long as it is in the way i described. Anything more than a few drops of blood or hurting animals fricks me out completely. How do you feel about it? Have you ever used your blood in a ritual?
I have used my blood twice. The first time was at my initiation ceremony, where my mom did it and the second was when i was casting a sympathetic spell for beauty. I have made an idol of myself using flour and water, i used belladonna, mandrake root and rosepetals a few hair of mine and all left to do was to drop a few drops of my blood on the figurine and recite the spell. I got the needle on my hand, i closed my eyes and tried to pierce. That day i found out something about myself. I am a complete and utter coward. I chickened out. But then, i also realised that i am a creative spirit. So, i went to my cat and started playing with him. A couple of minutes later, both my hands where scratched beyond recognition. I squizzed one of the scratches and there was a drop! I was so excited!
Brightest bessings have a great weekend and lots of fun!

Greetings!

Hi there! I really missed you. I have n't blogged for a while mainly because my laptop is in the living room hooked up with a bunch of cables so we can watch movies. It is not as easy using it as it used to be and also i had some problems with msn that kept me occupied.
As for the get of the broom challenge, i am glad to say that i keep on going and although i am currently down with a cold and pmsing i am still attending my kickbox practice 4 times a week(just not this week).
That being said, lets move on to witchy business. The most magical day of the year is fastly approaching and i can feel the veil getting thinner and thinner. Although i am taking a gazillion pills a day i have baked apple pie and banana bread muffins for the occasion and gave them as gifts. I am also planning on spending the halloween night with my husband, his younger brother and cousin who are very sweet kids and interested in the holiday. I will bake something for all of us to eat and then we will have a blessing for the witch's new year. We will read our cards and try to connect with our ancestral lines the best we can. So, i will not be carving the pumpkin alone this year, and i am very happy about it. I have done magic with other people before plenty of times, but i always celebrate these holidays by myself.
I was thinking of making my first runes this Samhain. Plus, i believe it is going to be an excellent gift for Yule for a few magical friends of mine. So maybe i will be making more than one set.
Samhain correspondences are colours black,orange, gold, brown and yellow, herbs cinnamon, sage, mandrake, saffron, lavender, eucalyptus, nettle and fruits apple, orange, pomegranade. We celebrate the Goddess's crone aspest, the wisest and more potent.
I hope you will have a lot of fun, cast many spells and do a lot of magic.
Be blessed, be loved and be ecstatically happy!
G.

One more day of Autumn.

Greetings blogfriends. How are you? I got my test results back and everything is absolutely fine. Now the people who do n't believe in the power of our minds will think it was all a coincidence, but i can't imagine many of those people reading my blog.
Before i got my test results back i was constantly wieghing myself hoping that it was some sort of water retention and not actual weight gain. But the numbers would not change. A few hours later i got my results back i was 3! kilos down and this morning 4!
The moment the stress left my body i weighed less. I thought the scale was broken and i kept checking. So, in the month i begun working out i had lost 2.5 kgs and there was not an actual weight gain.
I know some of you are thinking "told you so!" and you are absolutely right. So, thank you for putting up with all my whinning and nagging and for all the support! You are the best blogfriends in the world.
Right now i am enjoying a cup of coffee in the Sun, trying to breath in as much solar energy as possible. I always do that this time of the year. I feel the days getting smaller and smaller, and the need for the Sun growing inside my body. I know i will miss Him terribly in the winter. I am a Leo after all. The feeling of His touch on my skin combined with the autumnal smells and the sounds of the wind chimes, is one of the most sensual experiences i have ever had. I never want Fall to end(i am like a kid at Christmas) but the Wheel has to turn.