My husband smells of vanilla and honey!

Yes, it's true! *^v^* We have this Fa Vanilla & Honey Bathing Cream and whenever we have a bath we end up smelling so lovely, yikes! Give me anything with vanilla and honey scent and I'll love you forever!
But I digress.

It's all witchy today on my blog. ^^ Inspired by Lana's post I decided to show you some photos of The Craft items I have and write a bit about my Craft Path (which I don't do very often, because it's very personal for me, but sometimes people ask questions about the meaning of being a witch, so I wanted to shortly sum up my views on this).

Every witch should have a broom, so I have one - bought at the small village market some years ago (together with a big wooden moulding board ^^). Look how it is properly placed on my bookcase to grab it and use it right away if I needed it! ^^ It's a good sturdy well-made broom, very suitable for ritual as well as everyday sweeping. ^^

Then there is the blue wicker basket full of different supplies: candles, candle holders, scents, oils, pentacle, gems, etc. I have also another smaller basket with a selection of basic altar supplies, this one is my stash.

Let's not forget the Book of Shadows (my husband says that one should know better than to open the witch's Book of Shadows... ^^, but this time I'm opening it for you so that's okay) - I had this one made to fit my tastes, I went to a specialist with a box full of handmade paper and had them bound with a green linen cover, which I then decorated with a golden tree painting.
I like writing in it using different colours of ink - here are the example Samhain pages (some basics about this Sabbath). As I am what I call the 'kitchen witch', I put there mainly recipes for cleansing, healing, cooking, ect. ^^ I think I'll try to practice some drawing there too and make it look more like a proper witch's notebook = a scrapbook full of sketches, notes and birds feathers (how Fluffy Bunny of me, but never mind, this Book is just for me so who cares! *^v^*)

My book shelf - the middle shelf is full of herbal books, healing books (Reiki, meditation, shiatsu, ect) and other helpful witchcraft topics (like dream translations, powers of the Nature, ect).
Can you see the two big stones? I brought them from Sweden two years ago, when I saw them on the beach I felt I just had to have them at my home! ^^

What I'm writing now are my own experiences, opinions and beliefs, so please take no offence, whatever your beliefs and views are, because no offence or any religious preaching was meant here.

I was raised in a Catholic family of believers/non-practitioners. Of course my parents celebrated all the main holidays, but there wasn't anything spiritual in them, just a family gathering, lots of food, and children sent to Church to attend a mass because that's what you do and that's what the neighbours do (everything just for keeping up appearances). I didn't care much for them either, never agreed with the idea of a loving male God that punishes people to test their faith, telling your "sins" to some stranger in a confessional, going to hell after death, highly institutionalised church organisation. It wasn't logical, it didn't feel as a proper explanation of the spiritual part of our lives.

I started to walk the Craft Path several years ago, introduced to it by my best friend Anna. I looked for information on Wicca and studied it for a while. I felt that it was a good beginning, but I didn't stop looking for something more at that point. Wicca, being created in the first half of the XXth century was like a big melting pot for me, where Gardner put many symbols, gods, rituals and cooked up a religion with too many elements, as if he had to explain and prove every bit of the beliefs and celebrations with oh so ancient legacy. What truly appealed to me was the idea of the God and Goddess as manifestations of the Nature forces, living with the ever turning Wheel of the Year and the connection with the Universe through the spells/chants/simple rituals.

So, I am trying to be the witch in the basic understanding of this word - a wise woman, a woman who knows things, a woman with an open mind and heart. I light candles and scents, I meditate, I chant if I feel the need to do it, I observe the Moon, I'm interested in and practice natural healing (Reiki, Hopi ear candling, herbalism), my mind is open to astrology, tarot, psychic readings. I believe in self development, in the power of a thought, in a good organic food and the work of our own hands.
I don't have a specific tradition that I base my beliefs and gods pantheon on, I view named Gods and Goddesses from different cultures as many aspects of the masculine and feminine elements in the Universe. I don't care for the ceremonial magic but I believe in whispering to the trees. I celebrate the Wheel of the Year holidays, even if it happens only in my mind and heart.

I am a modern urban solitary witch and you can find every aspect of the Triple Goddess in me - the Maiden Magrat Garlick, the Mother Nanny Ogg and the Crone Granny Weatherwax. *^v^* (Pratchett's fans, unite!)