Why I love 2007

Oh what a year this has been!!! It has been filled with joy and discovery. I could honestly say that this has been one of the most amazing and life changing years for me.
With that in mind, I have decided to do a series of posts entitled: WHY I LOVE 2007
The first installment of this series begins now...

The Year of the Dance
During the first couple of days of the year Whitney and I decided that 2007 should be themed the year of the dance. With that as our theme we jumped into the year ready to dance. We didn't know exactly what it would mean to have a year of the dance, but we knew that dancing would become an inseparable part of us and that the way we viewed dancing would change forever. Looking back on the year I am very pleased with the results. We danced often and passionately. As we danced we learned that dancing was an expression of our souls, because we weren't just dancing with our bodies we were dancing with our hearts. Dancing became a short-cut to happiness and with time we realized that we weren't dancing because we wanted to but we were dancing because we had to.
TOP 5 DANCING MEMORIES OF THE YEAR
1. When Courtney and I went and saw Girltalk perform in Salt Lake
2. Being an active member of The Loft Dancers (the L.D.s)
3. The time that Whitney and I organically started grunting while dancing
4. My first hip hop concert
5. 80's nights at area 51

So many good memories, so many amazing experiences!!! I hope that I will always dance the way I have this year.

Christmas time

In 4 days my brothers will be coming home!! I am so excited! I've missed them a lot. I really didn't appreciate what I had when we lived so close together. I sure love them, and can't wait to see them.

Today's Joys

Top 3 reasons I love this day
1. phone call from Brian Arnell
2. Ravioli eaten as a finger food
3. LOTR Two Towers

The Moon is Waxing

As promised:

Love Poppets:

A Love Poppet is a cloth doll, similar to the popular Voodoo doll, but used by Witches in white magick spells for love and romance.
To make a Love poppet, you will need two pieces of cloth (equal in size), a pair of scissors, a needle, some thread, ink or paint, and magickal herbs with which to stuff the doll.
On a night of the new moon, concentrate on the man or woman whom the Love Poppet will represent and draw the outline of the person on one of the pieces of cloth and then carefully cut patterns. With a needle and thread, sew together the two pieces of cloth along the seams but leave the seam at the top of the doll's head open for stuffing.
The next step is to draw the person's facial features, characteristics (such as mustache, beard, glasses, hair, etc.) and his or her own astrological symbol on the torso of the Love Poppet with ink or pain in the individual's favorite color(s), if that is known. If you are unsure use red or pink-the colors of passion and love.
Using mugwort, feverfew, sorrel (or any other herb ruled by Venus, the planet of Love), stuff the Love Poppet until it is completely full. After this has been done, sew shut the opening at the top of the doll's head to prevent the magickal herbs from falling out.
The Love Poppet is now ready to be used to draw love into your life.
On a Friday when the moon is in a waxing phase, lay the Love Poppet on the center of the altar between two pink candles. (Be sure, as you stand before the altar, that you are facing East.) Anoint the candles with some rose oil and then light them. Sprinkle the Love Poppet with a bit of salted water to consecrate it, and say:

WITH THIS SALT AND WATER
I CONSECRATE THEE
AS A POSITIVE AND POTENT
TOOL OF LOVE MAGICK

Pick up your athame with your right hand. Touch the Love Poppet with the tip of the blade to charge it with magickal power as you say:

IN THE DIVINE NAME OF VENUS
AND BY HER DIVINE POWERS
I CHARGE THEE WITH LOVE-DRAWING MAGICK
SO MOTE IT BE.

Pick up the Love Poppet and hold it in your hands. As you gaze at it, concentrate on the affections of the man or woman whom the Poppet represents, and direct your love energy into the Poppet. Recite your beloved's name nine times out loud, shouting his or her name loudly on the ninth recitation.
Return the Love Poppet to the center of the alter and tie a red ribbon (symbolizing love) around its body and say:

WITH RIBBON OF RED
THIS SPELL I BIND
TRUE LOVE AND STRONG LONG
MAY (name) AND I FIND
SO MOTE IT BE.

Place your athame on top of the Love Poppet. Extinguish the candles and leave the doll on the alter for three weeks.
After the ritual has been completed, wrap the Love Poppet in a white satin or silk cloth, leaving the ribbon tied to it, and keep it in a safe and secret place where it will never be disturbed.

Athame- A ritual knife with a double-edged blade, used by witches and magicians to draw circles and to stoer and direct energy during magickal rituals.


Herbs of Love- absinthe, Adam and Eve root, almond, aloes, balm, basil, bay laurel, lemon, licorice stick herb, lotus, lovage, magnolia, mandrake, mistletoe, beth root, cinnamon, cinquefoil, cloves, coriander, cubeb berries, damiana, dill seed dragon's blood, dulse herb, elecampane, fennel seed, five-finger grass, gentain root, heart's ease, hemp seeds, juniper berries, laurel, lavender, myrtle, orange blossoms, orris root, passion flower, patchouli, periwinkle, primrose, quassia chips, Queen Elizabeth root, rose, rose geranium, satyrion root, scullcap, snakeroot, spikenard, vanilla, verbena root, vervain, violet.

Current moon phase:

Waxing Crescent
19% of full

I bet you can guess what I will be doing tomorrow! All you men better watch out, you just might be my victim! (insert witch laugh)


for more information on poppets: http://www.earthwitchery.com/poppet-magick.html

information taken from Wicca Love Spells, written by Gerina Dunwich, Citadel Press (1998)

Mourning

Jack left Project Runway tonight because of a medical emergency. My heart goes out to him, I will probably be in mourning the rest of the season.

December 1st

It snowed in Seattle today. I don't exactly know how to react to this. I love snow, when it is snowing, and when I can look at it through a window. Snowflakes are beautiful and amazing by themselves, and when they cling together to blanket the world in snow. However, I hate snow after it has fallen, and I have to go out into it and walk around in it. In fact, one of my most hated sounds on this planet is the sound of snow crunching, it does the same thing to me that fingernails on a chalkboard do to many people. Whitney was telling me today that she will only be wearing skirts from here on out, because of the wet pant leg you get when you walk in the snow. I think she is really on to something here, it is kind of like the summer of skirts but in the cold.
Even though the snow is cold, and can be a very nasty nasty thing, I do think it was the perfect way to welcome December. The snow fall, combined with Christmas music, and a warm drive in my car, helped me to feel the magic of the season that is upon us.

In other news, today was World AIDS Day. I went to a 4 hour class/training on HIV and AIDS. It was amazing. I don't know if I have ever really put an effort into understanding the virus or the way it effects peoples lives. The last 2 hours of the class were presented by a man who has lived with HIV/AIDS for about 25 years. It was really life changing to have the opportunity to listen to his story. He related an experience about a 16 year old girl who had said that she was not worried about contracting HIV. If she did contract it, there are pills that would be available and it would be NBD. He then reached into his bag and pulled out over 20 bottles of pills that he has to take on a daily basis (the pills cost him $6,000 a month). It is incredible to think of the constant battle he faces just to make it through one more day. This season on Project Runway one of the contestants, Jack, contracted HIV 17 years ago. He is amazing, he has an incredible body and seems to have a great amount of energy, plus his designs are pretty great. I gained a whole new respect for him today, and have decided he will be my season favorite.

Also, today was my roommate Heather's wedding. I didn't get to go to the ceremony, but made it to the reception. It turned out really nice. It was held in this really nice restaurant on the water. The back of the restaurant was mostly windows, and it was gorgeous to see the snowflakes falling on the water. We had a bridal shower for Heather on Thursday night, it was themed Naughty or Nice. I ended up running the show and had a bunch of fun. We played the poetry game- but we put a twist on it, we had everyone theme their poems around love and the honeymoon night. We aimed to write poems that Heather could read to Justin on their honeymoon. It was brilliant! The poems turned out so well. The night was filled with lots of laughter and had a good mix of both naughty and nice moments. My favorite moment of the night however, was after Heather had received an array of inappropriate gifts (edible underwear, boobie tassels, loads of lingerie and more) she opened her last gift and pulled out a large beautiful painting of the Savior (given by her Mom and Aunt). I can't speak for all of my roommates, but I will say I felt a bit awkward.