Celtic Lore & Spellcraft of the Dark Goddess: Invoking The Morrigan

I have been waiting for the release of Stephanie Woodfield's book on the dark goddess The Morrigan for some time now. The waiting is almost over. I have pre-ordered this book on my Kindle and will be able to read it on October 1st. A fitting date for this goddess of Samhain.I will be doing a review of this book when I am done reading, which I will begin doing the moment it appears on my Kindle.

For more information on Stephanie Woodfield you can visit her blog here. You can also find her on Facebook.

A Zombie Themed Tarot Deck???

The Zombie Tarot: An Oracle of the Undead
by: Paul Kepple and Stacey Graham

In honor of The Blogger Zombie Walk on Friday, I thought Iwould try to find a zombie themed tarot deck. Sure enough, I found one. This delightfully dreadful deck isn't due out until June 2012. At least we will be able to use it before the end of the world, December 23, 2012. 

You can find more information here.

He's Baaack!!!

My little friend is back for a visit. I don't know if he is a ghost, goblin or house spirit(Brownie), but I do know that he is a trickster. Before I got my new washer in which the lid locks when started, he used to open the wash machine lid in the middle of the cycle.  I could stand there and watch the washer and nothing would happen., but if I would go to another part of the house to clean, returning later to check on the laundry, the lid would be wide open, causing me to fall behind in my household chores. That used to drive me crazy. So happy he can't do that anymore.

He has been known to unplug things, turn things on or off and knock things off shelves. I have never had a bad feeling about him, only wanting to slap him upside the head if I could ever get the chance.

Why do I call this 'spirit' a he? First off, I didn't think a woman would mess with my laundry, that screams a mans type of trick. Second, I have seen him once. This one and only time was late at night. My husband was at work, my oldest daughter was at her dads for the weekend and my youngest was in bed with me. I woke up to glance at my alarm, something I do every night (I guess I'm afraid I didn't set the alarm, a little OCD of me). Just as I look at the clock  a car drives by, and there. lit up by the red tail lights, is a man standing beside my bed. Within in seconds I reached over to feel my daughter sleeping beside ,then started to get up to fight what i thought was an intruder. Just like that, he was gone. I let out a sigh of relief and whispered "Oh, it's just you. Don't ever do that again." I sat there, heart still pounding, when I thought to myself that I might have scared him as well. So I apologized for being so angry and asked him not to show himself to my girls, I didn't want him to scare them. He stayed away for awhile after that, coming for a visit every now and then.

I started to decorate for Halloween yesterday and I guess that got my visitor in the mood to be up to his usual tricks. he decide to hide my duct tape. I remember putting it on the kitchen table when I was done using it. My husband remembered seeing it there and my daughter swore up and down that she didn't tough it. I looked all over thinking the pup might have taken it to chew on. When i couldn't find it I figured I must have thrown it away with some trash. I gave up looking, mad that i was going to have to buy more, when I happened to see it on top of my husbands gun cabinet. How it got there I don't know. My daughter can't reach up that high and my husband swears he didn't do it. I know I didn't put it up there and I can tell when my husband is lying. That's when I figured that my 'spirit' friend is back. He's welcome as long as he leaves the girls alone, which thankfully, he always has. My daughter thinks it's the Leprechaun she tried to catch last St. Patricks day with the trap she made for a school project. She thinks he out to get her.


I'm sure all of these happenings can be debunked. Maybe the washer shook to hard, maybe the plugs are loose and lights wired wrong. Maybe it was a waking dream. And maybe my husband has become a better actor. Or maybe I really have a strange visitor. I don't think I'll ever know for sure.

Minions of Misery

Holy Moly Crapenoly!! That's what I said when I saw that Mantan Calaveras at VoodooGhoul made me one of the chosen ones for Minions of Misery. I have two children and they always say stuff like this, I guess they're rubbing off on me.  To be a Minion of Misery there are a few things you must do.

1. Choose a dark book
2. Choose a dark film
3. Reveal a dark secret about yourself
4. Pass it on to 3 of the darkly inclined



The Dark Book

I am reading this book right now. It is a collection of stories and poems edited by W.B. Yeats in 1888. It features stories from Thomas Crofton Croker, William Allingham, William Careton and Lady Jane Wilde. So far I have read some very interesting tales. Teig O'Cane and the Corpse is a story of a young lad who had to carry a corpse on his back until he could find a graveyard that would him to bury it there. The corpse comes alive to give him directions to different graveyards hoping to find his final resting place. The Soul Cages by T.Crofton Croker. A tale of a Merrow ( a being like a mermaid only hideous looking) who keeps the souls of drowned sailors in a cage and the man who wishes to free them. There are many tales of ghosts and goblins in this delightfully dark book.


The Dark Film

As you can tell, I like tales of Dark Faeries. And that is exactly what Pan is. In this gothic fairy tale a young girl named Ofelia has a hard time with the life she must live with her evil step-father. I love the rich detail that Guillermo del Toro poured into this beautiful film. I don't know whether to be afraid of Pan or madly in love with him. The ending left me both happy and sad. I love when that happens because I'm not sure which one I'm crying about.


The Dark Secret

This is a hard one. It took me awhile to think of a, dark or not. My life is pretty much an open book. I guess I'll share a little of my dark side.

I have been told on two occasions that my eyes turn red when I become very angry. The first time is when i was in High School. I was down in the woods enjoying a lovely ride on my horse Prince. All of a sudden I heard my mom and a male voice arguing. i raced Prince up the hill to see what was going on. My uncle was yelling at my mom, accusing my grandpa of sleeping with his girlfriend. I kinda got a  chuckle out of that. Until... my uncle took a step toward my mom like he was going to strike her. I don't know how I moved so fast, but within seconds I was off my horse handing the reigns to my mom and grabbing the pitchfork that was leaning against the barn. I pointed it at my uncle, yelling at him to get his skinny ass off our property. I chased him all the way to his truck, pitchfork pointed at his back. Several months later, when he dared to come back, he told me that I had scared the shit out of him. He said my eyes were as red as the devil. He never messed with my mom or grandpa again.

The second time it happened was when I was in my early twenties. I had some friends over to my apartment and one of them had invited a man I didn't know. We were sitting around drinking beer and listening to music. Said man started getting irate about the music I was playing (Thrill Kill Kult), he didn't like it. I told him I was sorry but I didn't have the music he wanted. He must have been on something because he got up in my face and was yelling at me. So I reached beneath the couch and pulled out my ax (I know, me and weapons). I held it up and told my friend to get him out of my apartment before I hurt him. Thankfully they left, so I didn't have to use my trusty ax. Again, I was told that my eyes had turned red.

So there you have it, don't mess with the small quiet ones. We'll  find a weapon and kill your ass.


And now for the chosen three:

Zena the The Real Queen of Horror

Kieth at Laughing Scared

Scared at Scary True

If you have already been chosen, let me know so I can choose another Minion.

Surrounded By The Mists Of Autumn

 

Happy Autumn, Mabon and Alban Elfred to all.I woke up this morning to a beautiful, foggy day. The air is chilled and the morning dark, fitting for the first day of Autumn.  I was feeling inspired this morning so I drove around taking pictures. My camera is on the fritz so these were taken with my phone. Hope you enjoy them.

May the magic of Autumn bring you many blessings.


Happy 12th birthday to my beautiful daughter. I love you.

The Dark Side of Faery

Stolen In Her Sleep

Selina Fenech

The Fairies

William Allingham

1824-1889

Up the airy mountain,

Down the rushy glen,

We daren't go a-hunting

For fear of little men;

Wee folk, good folk,

Trooping all together;

Green jacket, red cap,

And white owl's feather!

Down along the rocky shore

Some make their home,

They live on crispy pancakes

Of yellow tide-foam;

Some in the reeds

Of the black mountain lake,

With frogs for their watch-dogs

All night awake.

High on the hill-top

The old King sits;

He is now so old and gray

 He's nigh lost his wits.

With a bridge of white mist

Columbkill he crosses,

On his stately journeys

From Slieveleague to Rossess;

Or going up with music

On  cold starry nights,

To sup with the Queen

Of the gay Northern Lights.

They stole little Bridget

For seven years long;

When she came down again

Her friends were all gone.

They took her lightly back,

Between the night and morrow,

They thought that she was fast asleep,

But she was dead with sorrow.

They have kept her ever since

Deep within the lake,

On a bed of flag-leaves,

Watching till she wake.

By the craggy hill-side,

Through the mosses bare,

They have planted thorn-trees

For pleasure here and there.

Is any man so daring

As dig them up in spite,

He shall find their sharpest thorns

In his bed at night.

Up the airy mountain,

Down the rushy glen,

We daren't go a-hunting

For fear of little men;

Wee folk, good folk,

Trooping all together;

Green jacket, red cap,

And white owl's feather!

This poem can be found in Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry by W.B. Yeats.

In it you find ghost stories, faery abduction stories and tales of merrows and changelings, all with a dark twist. These tales and many others have brought me to the conclusion that the Land of Faery and the Land of the Dead are related. You can download this book for free on your Kindle. You won't be sorry.

Oracle of Shadows & Light



Oracle of Shadows & Light
Lucy Cavendish
Artwork by Jasmine Becket-Griffith



I discovered this lovely oracle deck at a very hard time in my life. My brother was very sick and the little Strangelings in this deck brought me great comfort. When I opened the box for the first time i had a wonderful surprise. I had two of the number one card. I took it as a sign and put the extra one in a little frame that still sits on my night stand. I look at this image every night and count my blessings.

Here are a few more images from this beautiful deck of Shadows and Light. I like the mixture of Gothic and Steampunk in this deck. All of the cards are beautiful and are well worth the buy.



This card kept showing up towards the last days of my brothers life on this earthly plain. I prayed to Saint Death to make  it as easy on him as possible.  My dear brother passed away on October 4, 1910 surrounded by his loving family. He will be forever missed. This card will always remind of the last days I got to spend with him. Bitter sweet
memories.



You can visit Lucy Cavendish here and Jasmine Becket-Griffith here. Both are very talented women.