Tag Archives: Blog

June 4, 2014 · 8:16 pm

Just a quick note and a big Thank YOU!……

Merry Evening my friends! I have spent some time today working on my Blogroll. I noticed that many of the Blogs I have loved and had listed on my blogroll are gone or the author hasn’t written for a very long time. I have removed those blogs and have added a bunch of blogs that I have found since I did the original blogroll. 🙂 Same with the favorite links. Added new ones and took away some that were no longer active or available. Be sure to check them out….and if you know of a great blog I’m missing out on..please let me know! I always love finding great writers and blogs or links.

I’m also very excited as I’m in the process of getting my blog “made over”.  I’ll actually have a logo and everything!!  Once it’s done..I’ll let you know about the fabulous person who took it on for me.  I can’t wait to see it myself!

thW8TGMMCF

I also want to extend a huge Thank You to my readers, followers and friends. With over 500 followers and nearly 134,000 hits…I’m completely thrilled that my blog is of interest to anyone 🙂 I started out writing this blog just for myself. To record info, things I know or want to know, things I’ve learned or want to learn, recipes, my favorite quotes and poems, pictures etc etc. As my readership grew….I started thinking about who was reading it, what I could share etc. I have gotten to know many of you enough to call you friend.  One thing I’ve learned from all of you and your comments etc…is to keep it simple, be honest, tell it as I see it, and be kind and friendly. I often wish that we could talk, like old friends,  sitting at my kitchen table, or on my patio in my gardens.  I thank you so much for reading me and being kind. It’s much appreciated! Many Blessings!!!

Strangers are just friends waiting to happen.

~Rod McKuen

Blessings and Love, Autumn

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March 2, 2014 · 5:35 pm

Bits and Pieces……..

daffodils_in_snow_Wallpaper_caq12Merry Meet my friends!  It’s Sun day….and it’s snowing and blowing outside.  Winter still has us in her grip.  Here in Ohio that is perfectly normal.  Spring doesn’t come for us until April and well into it too!   We were predicted at one point to have up to a foot of snow coming but it has been dropped back to 4-7 inches.  However, I’m not sure we’ll even get that.  We only have an inch so far.  It’s very pretty to watch on a lazy Sun day at home so I’m enjoying it.  Hope you all are safe and sound and tuckered in depending on whether you are getting the rains out west or the snow in the midwest and east.

My post today is about a few things I wanted to talk about.  I have given this blog a lot of serious thought lately. I debated not writing anymore.  I just had my 4th year anniversary here and I just wasn’t sure I had it in me to write here in anymore. I think I was losing my muse to write.  However, after some thought, I decided that I enjoy writing for my own enjoyment and will continue.  I’m grateful to my readers who seem to enjoy it too!  I am going to change up my writings a bit though.  I want to write MORE!  In the future, I’ll be doing posts about herbs, crystals, other blogs I want to feature, books, gardening, recipes, witchy craft pages of my friends,  and just more about my life as a Witch.  How I live it everyday.  I’m excited to take my blog in a new direction! I’ll also be working on my blogroll..updating, taking away those who aren’t writing anymore and adding some wonderful blogs I’ve discovered!

Another thing I wanted to share with my readers is that I have been a “chef” or writer for an online Pagan/Witch blog called the Sunday Stew.  Here is the link.

http://mypaganworld.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-sunday-stew-march-2-8-2014.html

I was asked to come on as the Herbalist Witch and I am enjoying it tremendously.  The Stew has been around for some time..I’ve been reading it for some time.  I was so honored when my friend and blog owner Kallan Kennedy asked me to write for the Stew.  It comes out every Sun day morning.  Lots of great news articles, other bloggers thoughts and ideas, info on totems, tarot, businesses, recipes, spells and rituals and really a great read!  You can follow the blog via email or network blogs to be sure that the Stew shows up in your inbox every Sun day as well! Be sure to check it out.  I started writing at the end of December…so go back and check out my herbal info and recipes!  I have made some amazing new friends amongst the other writers and feel very blessed!

Another thing I’ve gotten much busier with is my own herbal business.  You can find the link here.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/verbenalaneshoppe

Verbena Lane Botanicals has been something I’ve just dabbled in a bit but I’m getting more serious about it now!  Thanks to the Stew featuring my shop, business has picked up a bit!   I’ve gotten more motivated and having a lot of fun kitchen witchin..making up new wonderful products for my shop. It’s something I really love doing!  Be sure and find me as Verbena Lane Botanicals on Facebook as well here……

https://www.facebook.com/VerbenaLane

Along those lines, I have started working, finally, on getting my Herbalist certification thru Rosemary Gladstar’s home study course.  I’m really excited !  I signed up right before I had the brain bleed nearly two years ago, and needless to say, it got set aside while I healed.  Then we moved, then etc etc etc and it always seemed to be put aside.  Now I’m making it a must do and I’m learning a lot!  The course is well written, beautifully presented in a huge binder, and makes you do the homework etc.  It’s just great! I highly recommend it! Here is the link for that!

http://www.sagemountain.com/herbal-home-study-course.html

Ostara is coming up fast!  Yes, my friends, despite the Winter we’ve had, Spring WILL come! We’ve even had a few days here and there that brought to mind a beautiful Spring day!  My mind has turned to my gardens, herbs, being outside with my feet on Mother Earth’s soft ground without snow! I want to get my hands dirty, plan and plant.  As we are in a new home, just a year now, I have more beds to landscape and plan. So much fun to think about doing…and even more fun to DO when I can!

Oh despite the snow and frigid cold days, I can feel the Wheel turning as most all Witches can!  The movement of Sun and Moon have changed, the days are longer, the shadows cast by the trees have changed.  The behavior of the birds and ground critters is different..I’m even seeing Robins!  Even here in Ohio there is Spring flowers trying to bloom and some bushes are showing buds.  As much as I love Winter, I am looking forward to Spring!  What are your plans for Ostara, for Spring?  Spring cleaning? Planting your seedlings indoors?  Gathering with friends to feast? Dying eggs? Putting up new wards and protection for your home and those who dwell there?  Cleansing your tools, altars, crystals and home to prepare for Spring?  All are wonderful ways to prepare for Spring and for the awakening of Mother Earth!

I’ll be back soon…and often! Please do check out the Stew for some wonderful reading and knowledge.  I want to thank you all for being a reader and a friend. I continue to be inspired by those around me everyday….  and just one more word….the old adage…Be KIND to one another!!!

Blessings and Love, Autumn

 

 

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Filed under Bits of Magick, Gardens, Herbs, Holiday, Mother Earth, My Favorite Things, My Writing, Nature, Online Classes, Ostara, Seasons, Spring, Winter

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August 8, 2011 · 10:25 pm

Thanks so much!…….

Merry Meet my friends!  The heat continues here in Ohio…probably the hottest summer I can remember in a long time.  However, we have one more day of it then more seasonable weather comes in FINALLY!  We will be right around 80 for a few days with very low humidity..that makes me one happy happy witch! 🙂 Maybe we can actually go outside and do something fun LOL!  I will be happy just to sit on my porch in the cooler morning with a cup of coffee..or to go on a picnic or to a park. My grandkids might even be able to be outside, to swim, to play on the swing set.  How wonderful!

 

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.”

 ~Thornton Wilder

 

I am writing to THANK YOU all so so much for following my blog, for reading it, for giving me feedback and commenting,  and for sharing the link on your facebook walls.  I now have 110 followers and almost 21,000 hits!  I am most grateful for your friendship as well for those I feel I’ve gotten to know.  I never dreamed that my blog would be read by anybody at all.  I really just did it for myself, so I’m very pleased and feel in my own mind that it has been worth my time and effort…for others as well  as myself.  Thank you again so much. 

Having said that, I was thinking about Gratitude as I was looking up some quotes and pics to post here. I have talked about it here before.  I am a true believer that living a life in Gratitude gives us a happier, better life.  The benefits to our lives is enormous when we feel thankful for the Blessings in our life.  It is up to each of us to decide what the Blessings are!  Some people only feel thankful for the BIG things..you know…like our loved ones being safe and healthy, that the tornado missed us, that the house didnt’ catch on fire, that we weren’t killed in the shooting that happened somewhere else, that it’s not our dog laying dead at the side of the road.  Those things are so easy to be thankful for aren’t they?  I think though, it’s being grateful for the small, everyday things that helps us to live with a grateful heart.  Be thankful for the waitress who smiles at you and gets her job done well, be thankful for seeing a deer at the side of the road, be thankful for someone holding the door for you or for the cool breeze that cools you when you’re hot.  Keep a list in a journal or beside your favorite chair…think back over your day….what did you see, do, feel that made you feel happy and thankful today???  Write it down…you will find yourself looking for things to be thankful for.  Remember, the opposite of Gratitude, is Ingratitude!  Nobody wants to be un-grateful.  Taking things for granted is a bad way to live.  Especially for a witch or a pagan who wants to live a life of joy.

 

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words,

 but to live by them.”

– John F. Kennedy

 

Now, to take my own advice.  I have done a lot of griping here lately about the HOT steamy weather.  It has made me grumpy, lazy, tired and I just want the days to pass until we have cooler weather.  When I think about this, I feel pretty bad about it actually.  I have so much going on to be happy about and I’m letting the WEATHER color my day black???  That really is ridiculous when I think about it.  Yes, I want the Hot weather to go..but I should be grateful for each day no matter what!  I have a lovely family I’m blessed to have in my life, daughters who bring me great joy every day.  The sweetest, most adorable grandchildren, a loving son-in-law,  a husband who is hard working and cares for his family, an extended family who is there when needed always.  I have my path, a beautiful home I love, two magickal cats who give unconditional love.  I have food and clothes and books and things I love to do, buy, see.  I am blessed beyond measure.  I should thank the Goddess that I have air conditioning in this heat and quit griping about the heat!   I have friends out there who are not as blessed as me and I know it. I should never take for granted the things I have that other’s do not!

I think of what is going on in the world too.  The economy and so many out of work. The war and the deaths of 20 American Navy Seals. 😦  Riots in London, mothers who kill their children, the cost of living, politicians who can’t work together.  The news everyday seems so depressing and sad and can make me feel helpless and distraught about what’s going on in the world. Makes me want to quit watching the news completely!  But if you have a grateful heart, you can still find the good things in your life and be happy with what you have..the Blessings. 

Now I’m using the weather as a simple illustration of what I’m talking about.  Think about the words that come out of your mouth and creep into your mind.  Are they positive and thankful or are they negative and un-grateful.  Which would make you feel better?  🙂  This is not an easy thing….trust me! I struggle with it too ..as you can see by my sample.  But it’s worthwhile to focus on it and work on finding the things in your life that fill you with Gratitude.  Even if it’s just one thing…it’s a start!

Thank you again for being a reader and a friend.  My heart is grateful for it 🙂

 

“As each day comes to us refreshed and anew, so does my gratitude renew itself daily. 

The breaking of the sun over the horizon is my grateful heart dawning upon a blessed world.” 

 ~Terri Guillemets

Much love and light, Autumn

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