Imps

For my first "I" word, on this blog project....

Imps came to mind.

You know them already, I'm sure. They are the magickal folk who play tricks, steal your one sock in the dryer, lead you on wild goose chases and can play pranks.Sometimes they can even be malicious or deadly (if it's a really bad one).

Imps have been in literature throughout history, being called minor demons, pranksters and evil doers. They were often associated with witches as their familiars (that started when the Inquisition was on their witch hunts...Inquisition will be my next "I" word next week....).

It is said that Imps just are lonely and want human company. So to get their attention, imps play tricks and cause a lot of mischief to be noticed. Even when a human DOES friend an imp, the merriment does not stop, but can often increase.

 In Mexico, there are wee beings known as the "Aloosh". I learned a lot about them when I was visiting the ruins in Tulum. In order for a person to "get the luck" of the Aloosh the people must "feed" little stick figure people that represent them. If the human forgets tho...impending calamity may happen. Why would a person ever start "feeding" a stick poppet in the first place? Well, to take care of something. To have family.

Imps can be a friend that's fun.

But sometimes those friendships can get out of hand.

Personally, (even while I ADORE Lilo & Stitch :),  I do not feel that an imp is good kinfolk.

I know this from personal experience. In my youth, there was an imp who hounded me, rattled doorknobs, would leap out of closets to scare the beejaysus out of me and otherwise cause me terror. It tortured my soul.

When I was grown and had children of my own, my youngest daughter (who has Down's Syndrome) who knew nothing of the big bad world, would often complain to us that "a little man was pinching" her.
Could we see him?
NO.
Could SHE see him?
YES.
Did I believe this sweet innocent girl's tale?
Absolutely.
This child wasn't capable of lying. Nor would she make up anything with such an adamant declaration of such profound truth to her.

Imps can also "attach" themselves to an object and come into your life in that way. I once bought a painting at a library book sale. It was a copy of Franz Hal's "Gypsy Wench". I liked it. I liked the mischievous wench. She seemed fun and lusty. It reminded me of the renaissance faire. I love the ren faire.

Well, something happened.

Within ONE day of having it home, and after hanging it on my stair wall, the picture started to take on a life of it's own. I would've sworn that it LEERED at me. My daughter Jesse, who is a very brave soul and unruffled by most things, confided to me (in another room so the painting "couldn't hear her" that "It scared me".) In sooth, we both started to feel like this silly painting was "watching us." I believed the thing had started growing wings at one point.
Really, I got up in the middle of the second night of having it in my house, I walked into the hallway to go to the bathroom, and remember feeling like the painting down on the stairs below....was "awake" and that it was only a matter of time before it flew off the wall and attacked me.
(I know you probably think I'm nuts, but I don't care. I'm telling you the truth). 

I had the painting a total of THREE DAYS. I decided to get rid of it's menace and impending disaster...and I gave it back to the library to resell. I thought about it, but I did not want to destroy it. (Gods knows what would've happened if I had). I don't know how the next owner fared with it, but I always wonder....

This was a perfect case of the IMP.

Can we protect ourselves from Imps? Well, I put up iron horseshoes (my grandfather's horse's shoes from the Cavalry) up over my front and back doors. It helps.

Someone called me the other day, out of the blue, about a problem with a mischievous imp or something darker. I advised them to "Cleanse the house with sage and broom. Stop ANY underhanded, illegal or slightly immoral behavior, if any is happening in the house. And put up some horseshoes."

If you cleanse it, stop the attraction of what would be "inviting behavior" and put up a barrier these can all be very helpful.

I've also heard that imps like to control temperature spikes and dips.

I wonder if they have anything to do with these hot flashes? :)

Imps.
Love 'em....but honey, you are best served to leave 'em.

"...First Do No Harm"

"and it harm none,  do what ye will" is the Wiccan Rede.  It is a goodly statement and one that a role model worth following.

Harry & I watched one of the movies in my Netflix queue last night, called "...First Do No Harm". 
It reminded me of the Wiccan Rede as it applies to medicine and dealings in real life.

Meryl Streep played the role of a mother who becomes her child's advocate as he develops Epilepsy. This wonderfully balanced little boy starts having seizures and then it quickly develops into Grand Mal "episodes". The medical community takes them down the path of one drug and procedure after another, leading down a rabbit hole of confusion, more seizures, and bankruptcy for the family.

The mother does what ANY good mother would do. She starts researching and studying and ends up taking her child OUT of the medical system and into the world of Alternative cures with the "If-y" Ketogenic diet. Guess what happens?

He's CURED. And what is most amazing about this movie too, is that MANY of the supportive characters in the flick had also had Epilepsy and taken the Ketogenic diet and ALSO had been cured!

This movie really affected me.

Why?

Because I had Epilepsy.
Most of you may not know this, but when I was about 13 I started having "Petit Mal" episodes too.

I started having high fevers, walking blacking outs and having SEVERE migraines. I, too,  wound up at the hospital having several EEGs (electroencephalographs)  and I also had a Brain Scan (this was the early 70's and I was given nuclear medicine intravenously and laid out on a gurney with the top of my head touching a large metal x-ray device while lead aprons were laid out over my entire body from neck down). Pretty scary.

I was diagnosed with Petit Mall Epilepsy. They said it is "quite common in teenage girls". But that didn't help my psyche much. I was put on Dilantin and then Philantin (Dilantin and Phenobarbitol together).

Reading about it now, I just told Harry what it said about some of the side effects on this website: "You may have thoughts about suicide while taking Dilantin". 

Well, that explains a lot of my teenage angst and pits of despair, now doesn't it?

In my life to date, unbeknownst to me, I have emulated the Ketogenic Diet in my life by incorporating a Yoga diet, repeated fasting periods and also using the Atkins diet into my life at certain times of my life. Yes, I acted out in ways in my life that may have caused me harm. But also, in using my feelings and listening to my God given intuition, I have also medicated myself in ways that helped to heal me as well, and keep me on a path that was good for me.

I have been off medications for epilepsy for about 35 years. I didn't even know about this "Ketogenic Diet" at all, but have put elements of it, into my life and diet, off and on for many years!

This knowledge, and the info I found in my favorite book of health: 
"You Can Heal Your Life" , by Louise Hay has reinforced something amazing to me.

She has included this disease and it's underlying psychological impact and healing affirmation in her book as follows.

Epilepsy: 

Underlying reason: Running away from the self, family or from life.

Healing Affirmation: I am AT HOME in the Universe. I am safe and secure and understood.

In combining all this info, and recently delving into my past with my memoir writing, I have come to a GREAT TRUTH and conclusion.

My epilepsy came on shortly after a close neighbor in my community was put into jail for murdering children.
I now understand that I internalized my PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) in my way of dealing with this awful series of unfortunate events. You see, this serial killer, Arthur Shawcross, and I (and my family) had several interactions around this time, and yet I was somehow spared, I LIVED, and my family came out safe in the end, too.

The other 2 children and the many women he killed did not have such a happy ending.

I have been extremely blessed and protected.
I do not know why.
But believe me, I AM GRATEFUL.

So, all I can say to you folks out there, is this.
We are amazing human beings.
We are survivors.
We are able to internalize messages and if we are lucky enough to deal with them, we can grow from them.

What does not kill us makes us stronger.

I would say, First....and Last.....DO NO HARM. 


Catch this movie if you can.

Horned God

And here we are at the letter "H" and I've been thinking on so many words that begin with it...
But I think I would like to feature one of the most important to me.

The Horned GodGiven a bad rap by the Medieval church and demonized into their making he is none of that.

He is Fertility, Maleness, Strength, Growth, Progress, Sexuality, Instinct.

In our daily lives of computer technology, suburban sprawl and to-do lists and soccer for the kids and home network shopping...we've become disjointed from our Earthy nature. We have become disconnected from the REAL WORLD of Nature and physicality. Even our daily life's interpretation of sexuality is skewed with pornography and tawdy commercialism and they portray women and men's coupling as shallow and devoid of feeling. Only the numb faces of the participants or those in dramaticized gloried facial expression of their seeming pleasure is offered as it's substitute.

No. That is NOT the Horned God.

Nor is he the red deviled, forked tongue, charcoal grilling scaly monster that we've been indoctrined to fear. If you really think about it for any time at all, you will see that we, as a human race, have been taught to fear our own urges. The urge to hunt, and provide, to procreate, to enjoy nature's glory of seduction and the chase, the coupling of another wild creature of your liking. Why? Because the Church wanted to tame us, cut off our balls, GELD the Horned God.

But I say he LIVES. Especially now in this season of springtime and the awakening of our pent up lusty natures. May day approaches! This was when Beltane was in it's glory and the earthy people knew its power to shake up the gene pool! Beltane participants would have fun, build big bonfires and drink and carouse and jump the fire! They would drum and dance and bring out their inner wild nature. Some would even join the hunt and couple in the woods for a night. In the morning, when the light of day would awaken them, they would be liken unto Fauns or Satyrs just waking from their enchanted night, entangled in a lover's arms.
What happened on Beltane, stayed on Beltane."Oh the Lark in the morning, she rises off her nest
flies up to the heavens with the dew upon her breast
like the jolly ploughboy she whistles and she sings,
comes home in the evening with the dew upon her wings"

We need the Horned God. At least we need aspects of him in our life.
Too long have we been pent up with our emotions and desires, following like sheep to a slaughter and sacrificing our lives and happiness for some religions image so that they may keep us in check and in line in their view of order.

Some chaos is good in your life. You can't have one without the other.

We need to be more in tune with the part of us that is animal. The one that instinctively knows the way home. The one that follows the signs in the sky and knows the phases of the moon. The one that can track a deer, the one that can sniff out a mate, the one that can howl at the moon.

This Beltane, make PEACE with that part of you. The one that you've been denying. God lives within you AS YOU.

Wear your horns proudly, at least for a bit! Connect with your inner wisdom, your Earthy spirit, your wild and racy side and your Godly self that feels and respects nature and all its inhabitants.

And Remember...we do live in a new day and age....

so don't forget to wear a sheep's bladder :)

Hermes

He is the "Messenger of the Gods".

Never heard of him? Well, you probably would know him best as "The FTD" symbol.
Yah, He brings flowers. Flowers can be messages you know.

But more so, He is also the Son of Zeus. (How's THAT for lineage?) It is said that He is the God of travelers, protector of shepherds, cowherds, thieves, orators, and wit, literature and poets, athletics and sports, weights and measures, invention and of commerce in general."

I like how He governs "thieves" along with wit, literature and poets. Must be "the Folk Tradition", eh? :) Well, it's all forms of communication isn't it? He IS the Messenger of the Gods, and in fact He is the God of Communication in all its forms.

Also, Hermes carries the messenger's staff called the "Caduceus." It is the symbol for him, the planet Mercury, and also of Astrology and Alchemy.

The Caduceus is not to be confused with (but often times is) the Rod of Asclepius, which is the symbol of medicine and the healing arts.It is said that Hermes "invented fire, the lyre, the the alphabet, numbers, astronomy, a special form of music, the fighting arts and the gym, the cultivation of olive trees, weights and measures, and various other things."

Whoa. Busy guy! He invented FIRE?

Hermes helped Odysseus fight the magic of Circes, the Goddess by telling him to eat the poisonous Moly (which they figure by description is the lovely Snowdrop)

This flower is very dangerous for a mortal man to eat...but when given by a God's hands, it protected Odysseus from falling under Circe's spell. Snowdrops mean "Hope" , saving Odysseus from being turned into another animal and saving him and his crew.

Thus I think, Hermes started the whole "Communication with Flowers" thing...

Hermes is the bringer of news, wisdom, music, and protects from ghosts...

He is the one who guides the souls of the dead to the Underworld safely. (like Davy Jones in Pirates of the Carribean....only Hermes came first)

Hermes is the giver of dreams.

Hermes is the God of Roads and Boundaries. (Yes, him and St. Christopher :)

He is also a Phallic God and said to be the father of Pan and Hermaphroditus, who are notably very sexual and magical beings. (And really, when you combine music and sexuality you do get a very deep form of communication for all sexes, do you not? :)

You would need to make a list (read: CHART) of all his lovers and children! (Proving that communication IS sexy ;)

He charmed giants with his flute, rescued Goddesses and Nymphs, Killed the 1000 eyed Argus (who ALWAYS slept with some eyes open...how creepy is THAT?)

Hermes helped in battles, loved sheep (sometimes even LITERALLY...I mean, where do you think his son PAN came from?? )

Hermes invented foot racing and boxing and his winged feet are the symbol for swiftness and accurate travel. (His statue is at many stadiums and gymnasiums in Greece and throughout the world.)

So, really, it was with great intellect that Hermes was chosen to be the bringer of flowers and romance, eh?

By the way~

Hermes is also known to the Romans as Mercury....as most of Hermes traits were incorporated into the God Mercury's persona as well. Mercury is the ruling planet of Gemini.

I am Gemini and can certainly feel his influence in my life as a performer, writer, talker, singer, poet, lover, bard. Communication is my thing. I will read some of my original poetry this night at The Schweinfurth Museum of Art, as part of The 7th Annual Spring Poetry Reading. Hermes, I thank you for this gift and opportunity to share it!

"Hermes the Messenger of the Gods, Eloquence and Prudence, guide my words through pen and song."~ Merlyn

And thank you for letting us communicate to ourselves and others with flower!

If you are interested in learning more about what flowers say, then click here to visit a very informative website!

So, you can "say it with flowers, any day, but don't forget to say, "Thanks Hermes!!" :)

References, besides reading about him througout my life have come from here:

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/hermes.html

http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Hermes.html

http://www.theoi.com/Summary/Hermes.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes

Merlyn's Love List~

Magick comes in all forms. Love being the most magical of all.

My friend, Lynn, posted some of her loves for this week, and I think that it's good to just appreciate and enjoy what IS. If the newscasters would only forecast GOOD news, (and keep us updated on what we have to know that is bad, but only in smaller doses) we'd have a happier world, less depressed people and more grateful population.

It's a Law of Attraction thing.

So here goes my "Love List" for this week~

I am loving my Harry for doing what he's been doing, sorting out some of his clutter, doing taxes and being a really sweet man to me. He even bought pizza and wings last night. A treat that I haven't had in awhile.

I am loving being with my friends on Facebook, sometimes it makes me laugh so much, and the connection feels so fun and good.

I love my dear friend who writes stories with me, in real life and fantasy. I love to write. I love making up stories, poems, and I appreciate reading and absorb and sponge it all up. I like squeezing it back to you in drips too :)

I love lust and being accepted for who I am and what I need and what I am capable of giving.

I loved going to see "Wrath of the Titans" this week, and sitting there and just enjoying the moment with a dear friend.

I love my doggy, Monty so much. He is so silly and smart. He smells so good. I kiss him everyday.

I am loving my time "alone" this week and am treating myself to a pattern book oggling at Joanne Fabrics this afternoon to make a fantasy Victorian lace gown. Someday. It will all start with the perfect pattern. I intend to research and seek it out. Today.

I am loving my friend Lorie O'Donnell SO much. She is kindred to me, and I am so much enjoying the CD, by "Luminere" that she gave me. In particular the versions of "Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies" and "Wayfaring Stranger" that we do, but I enjoy these versions very much. I am looking forward to our "play day" this weekend with her and her mate. Movies, wine, food and laughter is on the menu.

I am loving my grey hair coming in. I feel it deepens me and I am aware that I am aging and I am loving growing in all forms. I am becoming a wise old woman.

I am loving the sunshine and good weather!

I am loving cooking again. Food is a wonderful, joyous thing, and cooking with love is a magical creation. The eating of it is a joyful boon.


I am loving my poetry and am honored to be picked to read this Friday night at a local museum at the Annual Spring Poetry Reading, featuring local poets and writers.

I am loving my two girls, Jesse & Shawna who give to me their love, devotion and acceptance of their crazy mother.

I am also loving the Open Mics that we do, the crowd of fun musicians and audience it draws and the friendships that have developed over the years. I am truly blessed.

I love my guitar and drum, first and foremost and always will. They are like breathing to me. I cannot live without them.

And I love you for reading my stuff.

THANK YOU.

Holy Thursday and Good Friday

When I was young, my parents were devout Catholics and I spent many hours in many different Catholic churches. I admired their beauty and the sight of stained glass and the smell of incense in the swinging and smoldering bronze censure, it filled the rafters with it's exotic scent. It led you to great feelings and spiritual moments.

Some of the most amazing moments of my devotion there, were the High Holy Days of Lent. In particular, Holy Thursday and Good Friday.

Holy Thursday celebrates Jesus and his disciples sharing Passover together. Eating, drinking and praying and being grateful for life. It was also his "Last Supper" and where Holy Communion comes from. He symbolically charged the wine as a remembrance of his blood or his life and work...and charged the bread as his body. He wanted those there, and maybe those to come to remember him when they ate and drank and to not forget during their daily times about this moment.The moment is to be APPRECIATIVE of each other. Yes, there may be those that sit at our table that have betrayed us....or will betray us and these are Judas's and Peter's roles to remind us.
While they do love you, they have issues of their own and are always trying to be good, but failing. Jesus loved them. We should love them too. They try. They fail. We try. We fail. It is in the trying that is the important thing. The Greeks say: "The Gods love those that TRY."

The symbolism of Bread (the staff of life) and wine (the elixir of the Gods). We are to appreciate both the Earthy and the Ethereal EVERY DAY.

I loved the ritual of Communion, where as a community we gathered to share something symbolic and the humanity and the spiritual nature of this holy act sunk into my bones. We are to be grateful.

Then as soon as the ceremony was done, the parishioners left and the Priest and Altar boys went round and covered all the statuary with purple cloths to symbolize Christ's death on the cross. We would go back to church the next day to do "The Stations of the Cross". This is where you start at one point in the story of Christ and ritualistically go through each one with prayer and meditation till you end up at the cross of the dying Jesus. There is a deep anguish that this process uncovers in your soul. The feeling that you are lost, you are alone, you are abandoned by the Gods. This is the feeling that is portrayed by the dying Christ. This is a feeling that is Universal sometimes by all of us.

While you may or may not believe in the deity of Christ....the feeling is still Universal of the desire to be known, to be loved and the feeling of abandonment in your hour of need is also Universally tragic. It hits home.

We all need direction and guidance in whatever form of faith that we embrace.

Then there is the hope that springs Eternal with Jesus's symbolic rising from the dead. That we can experience Redemption. We can be NEW again.

There are those who sit at our table of life, who may not believe us and will forever be the "Doubting Thomas" in our lives. Thomas did not believe and needed to feel the puncture wounds in Jesus's hands and feet and see the gash in his side from the Centurion's blade. Jesus happily let him explore. I am one of those "doubting Thomas's". I do not trust easily, and I question everything. But I was made that way. To have blind faith may be a gift or a curse. I prefer to use my mind to question and to reason. And you know what? Jesus loved Thomas anyway.

This Easter for my Christian friends... or Eostre for my pagan friends...there is something that we can learn from this story no matter what your faith is.

We are to be grateful.
We are to try to trust.
We are to be born again new every day with hope in life and hope in ourselves.
Accept those who are not perfect.
And hope for the best.

So whether you love Jesus or the Goddess or just Mother Nature herself...

I wish you Peace...
a faith that questions from time to time...
a little Wine ...
and a Communion with your soul.

The Hindus also have it right when they say:

"God dwells within you...AS YOU."

Namaste.

Gris Gris

I would like to talk about Gris Gris.

Sounds funny doesn't it?
Pronounced: "Gree Gree".

I was first introduced to this Charm...or Hoodoo Talisman while Harry & I were in New Orleans 12 years ago, back in 2000. It was before Katrina stormed through, and the city was amazing!! We went with friends to stay in "N'orlans" for 4 days before taking a cruise to Jamaica, Mexico and the Grand Cayman Islands.

But that's a whole 'nuther story :)

The story today (A story! A story!) is about our meeting with the voodoo Queen Marie Laveau!Ok, so she'd been long entombed by the time we got there but Gris Gris (or "hoodoo" as it was called in New Orleans) played a big part.

So....there we were, Harry & I touring a most awesome city, New Orleans! As wandering musicians by our occupation, we drifted from street corner to corner and soaked up the music and all the sites!

We came upon a sign that said, "Voodoo Gift Shop". Ok, "Let's go in!" and see what we can see while we are here. When in Rome and all" and we opened up the door and walked right in. It was a lovely eclectic alternative bookstore and gift shop. I bought a beautiful pack of Russian Tarot cards for my collection...and while looking around I saw a basket filled with little wee fabric bags and a sign on it that said,

"Gris Gris-Hoodoo" Magic Charms."
I said, "Can you tell me about these?"
The nice clerk said, "They be "Hoodoo." CHARM BAGS. "Gree Gree" be charms for good magic."

So not wanting to tempt fate, and always needing good luck, we each bought a bag of Gris Gris for a souvenir and absentmindedly stuffed it our pockets. We continued on our exploration and so thoroughly enjoyed our time there as we wandered some more streets....
eating, drinking, making merry, wandering through shops, and listening to other musicians for a change....till we got to our destination, the Spirit Cemetary and VoodooTour.
Now, right up front I will tell you that I do NOT like cemeteries and don't usually visit.
I am much too sensitive and can feel spirits and need to switch off my "open" sign when I go to them, which is RARE. But a cemetery tour in New Orleans is a historic and fun thing, and it wouldn't bother me too much during the daytime, I thought, and so I agreed to go.

Interesting enough, but they don't bury people in New Orleans!
They entomb them. They learned long ago that their location is below sea level... and when they buried caskets, in the past, the first flood would bring them all up to surface again.

VERY disconcerting.

So they started placing the dead in vaults, or tombs, where in a short time of the emmanating tropical heat they would be "cremated" inside the vault. Families would often have just one crypt and would share it with all family members to save money and save space on the limited grounds in town as well. So...no pesky redigging and reburying the dead, cost effective funerals and space limitation issues were addressed all at once. Problem solved in typical common sense fashion!

While on this fascinating tour of old burial grounds, Harry and I thought we recognized one of the other tour guides who was leading a different tour through the cemetery.... I said, "I'm SURE that's "Charlie the Pretzel Guy" and he was sort of looking at us, pretty sure that he knew us as Renaissance Faire minstrels from several other faires...

But we were dressed in "mundanes" (street clothes) and he was wearing an old fashioned Funeral directors top hat with black bow and a vintage long tailed tux...(read: not his kilt)
so we "sorta" recognized each other...but weren't quite sure if it was "us" or not.
Sometimes you just don't recognize other rennies "w/o their clothes on" (which is our joke about appearing in mundanes and not in costuming/garb).

Well, he was leading his tour around one side of the cemetery and our tour snaked around the other side until both tours wound up together...at the same time (coincidence? I think not :) at the tomb of Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo Queen.

It was interesting indeed! There were trinkets and gifts and flowers and whiskey in unopened bottles left all around her tomb, as "tributes". She was still the legendary leader even from the grave, it seemed!This is where it gets even MORE interesting:

The other tour director (read: "Charlie the Pretzel Guy") looked at us and pointed quick to us and said aside to us, "Rennie?"
To which we nodded "yes" and pointed back lightly and said, "Rennie?" and he nodded "yes" and gave us a wink. (We didn't want to blow his cover here at his other job :)

Charlie then continues his spiel about the tour, but now we are 2 tours lined up together listening to our found acquaintence telling this story about Marie Laveau the Voodoo Queen.

Harry and I happen to be standing right next to her tomb, while we were listening to the lecture.

Charlie says, "It is said that if you leave a trinket or an offering for Marie Laveau....."
(we instantly place a dollar under someone's single serving plane bottle of scotch left there at her tomb)

He continued, "And if you happen to have some Hoodoo in your pocket....."
(we put our hands in our pocket and just then remembered the gris gris ("hoodoo") that we purchased only an hour before!)

Charlie went on, "And if you place your right hand on Marie Laveau's grave...."
(both Harry & I placed our right hand on her grave, while most of the other tourists stared at us in disbelief and sort of frighteningly moved away from us....)

"And tap 3 x....."
(we tapped our fingers 3 times on the wall of her tomb...now the strangers standing by us were wearing their "alarmed facial expressions"...)

"It is said that if you ask for a WISH, that the Queen herself will grant it and BLESS YOU".
(We closed our eyes and both made a Secret Wish.)

I instantly felt ELATED! So did Harry! We felt Immediately CHANGED for the better!
It was like some sort of base cellular change had happened to our bodies or something!

So check this out....

*We had "COINCIDENTALLY" bought some gris gris (hoodoo) at a random shop...

*We had also taken the Cemetery Tour on a WHIM that day....
and bumped into someone we KNEW 1700 miles from home....

*At a precise moment when HE was giving a tour (that we didn't know he worked)
and we "HAPPENED to have" some Hoodoo in our pocket....

*at the right time...

*at the right place....

VOILA! MAGICK!!

(I will tell you another AMAZING MAGICK story about when we toured the Voodoo Temple after this Cemetery Tour when we get to the letter "V" down the road a spell :)

So, in conclusion...

As you can tell from my own personal story....Gris Gris IS a MAGICK charm.

It can be used for Good or Ill...as most things can be.

But I tell you true now, that Magick happens!

To this day, I STILL carry that same Gris Gris in my Ren pouch.

IT WORKS.


http://www.neworleanstours.net/?gclid=CILo0crIna8CFcJM4Aod-QMAbQ

http://www.experienceneworleans.com/deadcity.html

http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/secrets_of_the_voodoo_tomb/

StoryBook Club, Velveteen Rabbit and being REAL

Hey Ho Intrepid Storycologists!

Merlyn here, to tell you another Magickal Story! (A Story! A Story! A Story! :)

Last night, a bunch of silly and smart adults met at the appointed hour at the Woodsy Squirrel Haven to discuss Margery Williams children's book:

"The Velveteen Rabbit ~ Or How Toys become Real".

It is almost Easter/Eostre and bunnies did abound in this season of Fertility!
Guests included: Stephanie, Lynn, Kate, Christine, Phil (and their new baby "Pixie the puppy"), Nick, Val, Terry, Harry, Monty Joe the Storybook Schnoodle and myself.

The table was filled with fun themed items for our StoryBook Bunny Feast too!There was a delicious soup called "Blushing Bunny" (otherwise known as Welsh Rarebit),
2 kinds of deviled eggs (Phil even made "Bunny" ones!), a bunny cupcake cake, decadent Velvet cupcakes, Strawberries and Cream, chocolate bunnies, Chamomile tea, Wine...
BUT the hit of the night?
Stephanie's Bunny Peep S'mores roasted over the "Burning Barrel" of Life (sterno :)
(Ok, so we all have a deliciously sick and fun sense of humor!)

After nibbling like ravenous rabbits in a field full of clover, we all sat down to chat about this amazing book. Margery (like Beatrix Potter) was only 17 when she wrote and published this book! It has sold MILLIONS of copies!

Some of us knew the story nearly by heart and others had just discovered it with StoryBook Club! It is the "TAIL" of a sawdust stuffed bunny who lives in the nursery with the other toys, some of which who are quite negative and mean to him. He also hears tales of "becoming real" someday. The skin horse is an old and worn toy who mentors him and teaches him about it all. The skin horse is honest and as candid as can be telling him that "becoming real sometimes hurts, as you get your fur all rubbed off and you may lose your pretty glass eyes or buttons, and your skin may droop, but it is worth it to be REAL."

One day the little boy starts playing with the toy bunny and he becomes the little boys special constant companion. The boy makes the little rabbit REAL. They have all kinds of fun adventures in the raspberry thickets and the garden until one day when the boy comes down with Scarlet fever. The bunny is there with the sick boy through thick and thin until he recovers from his scalding fever and illness. However....the doctor says that the room must be disinfected and all the toys must be burnt for health purposes.

Yes, the bunny must go.

By this time in the story, the Velveteen Rabbit has indeed captured your heart and soul and you feel his pain. But his emotions have grown so that he is grateful of what has happened and is remorseful of the way his story is about to end. Then something amazing happens. This sawdust filled stuffed toy sheds a tear of love. This tear embodies all his emotions and is rewarded by a fairy! The Velveteen Rabbit DOES have a happy ending.
The best of all happy endings. He becomes a REAL BUNNY.

He gets to run and jump and play with other rabbits for the rest of his days.
Truly a bunny heaven!Margery Williams, in her young years, of "tween time" between child and adult found and presented us all with a great truth with this story!

We all have an "Inner Bunny" within us....the one who gets picked on and discouraged and hurt...but who also is capable of MUCH love and joy and gratefulness.

Yes, LOVE is wondrous and full of joy and promise.

Yes, we can get hurt when we risk and love.

But LOVE transforms us into better REAL people.

Go ahead....

EMBRACE THE BUNNY :)Next Month?

PETER PAN!

Erotically Speaking....

Aphrodite, Eros, Pan and many wild Maenads and Fauns gathered this last weekend at the Erotic Arts Festival!

When we arrived at the very pleasantly posh Radisson Riverside Hotel in Rochester, NY the event was in full swing having started the night before. MUCH entertainment of many types did abound here!

The committee for Rochester Erotic Arts Festival came together to put together a really comprehensive and wide ranging array of topics for this very open minded event about Sexuality.

There were lectures/demonstrations on:
How to take erotic photographs at home
Crossdressers Make Over Day (with tips on choosing outfits, wigs, makeup)
Erotic Tickling
Erotic Hypnosis
Erotic Drawing
Rope Bondage 101
The Art of Exotic Dance
Beginning Belly Dance
Cardio Strip Exercise
Loving Our Bodies-Loving Ourselves
Hoopnosis (Hula Hoop Dance)
among many others!

There was quite a variety of stage performance as well:

Burlesque Dance (male & female),
Aerial Dance (think of a Cirque de Soleil type trapeze artist dangle dancing from 2 long lengths of silk in the ceiling),
Suspension Restraint (think of decorative bondage while being hoisted up off the floor), Bombshell Dance Troupe

Acapella singers

and Merry Mischief Bawdy tunes.

Many Artists showed off their unique talents! Artwork ranged from beautiful composition, to symbolic/abstract paintings, to in your face sexuality displayed. Beautiful photography, sculpture and paintings from landscape to up close and personal.

We really got a fun kick out of the Female Torso sculpture made from colored elbow macaroni and mung beans!! It rocked!Live performance art featured body art on nearly nude models standing as sculptures and occasionally changing position.

There was also a very wild reclining chair that had "tentacles" that you could move around for photographic opportunity.
It was like "Captain Nemo meets Erotic Art" :)

Vendors ran the gamut from sexy clothing, chain maille, phallic & feminine smoking devices, floggers and leather, of course, toys and play things....you know...the regular plus some wild occurences thrown in for good measure.

My, my what a fun time people watching at this event was! The outfits of patrons were great.

There was some AMAZING body paint! I saw a green tiger Drow Elf getting a drink at the bar. mostly unclothed, but you wouldn't think so till you got up close.
Harry actually was chatting with a woman for sometime and thought she was dressed, until she turned sideways and he got the distinct sideview of a full breast...then saw her nipple, and then he finally realized she didn't have her shirt tucked into her jeans, but had no shirt on at all. That was a kewl realization for Harry!

One sort of shockingly beautiful yet sort of disturbing yet pretty thing was a demonstration about "corseting". This is where a woman got many piercings in her back, which was then laced and pulled taut with ribbons. She also had feather quills placed in her back like angel wings.
Not for me.... But pretty in its weird, tragic beauty. Very Goth. I mean, Viola! Insta-boob job with a bonus tummy tuck, right? Your sagging boobs are now, right where you want them, and your belly can be flatter just like that!

As I said, not for me......... but weirdly wonderful and unique!

Here is what I mean....

Harry and I were hired to play as wandering minstrels for a bit then had a stage show. It was fun to let out hair down and play all the bawdy, randy, coarse, sailor type songs I wanted to from "Roll Yer Leg Over" to Barnacle Bill! LOTS of fun!

One of the funniest things I heard this day was this:

A very sweet illustrated woman...(Read: Tattooed Lady ;) came up to talk to me after our show. She was decorated with a whole garden of flowers of artwork on her body!She said: "OH! Merlyn! I LOVED hearing you sing "Barnacle Bill the Sailor!! It was one of my most favorite childhood memories!" I busted out laughing, "CHILDHOOD memories??"
Laughingly she said, "Yah, my grandma & grandpa had a fun bawdy sense of humor and taught it to me when I was little! I knew a lot of your verses!"

I personally dressed up very nicely for the occasion too! I put Harry in "stage blacks" which works for him, I decided to go a lot more fun and fancy too!

I wore a black lace Unitard, short Stewart plaid mini-kilt, black corset, flashy cubic diamond earrings and red mule sandals with heels. Couple of pretty and flashy flowers in my hair.

Oh... and a I wore a........ (wicked grin).... multi-strand pearl necklace.

Yes, a few intelligent people got THAT joke right away :)

Had my pic taken by one fellow who said, "LOVE the kilt!" and Alec commented that I looked "Fantastically Hot in that outfit" :)
Alec you made my day!

OH!
I have to tell you this....

I saw THE MOST beautiful Cross dresser. Oh my, but he/She was STUNNING! I should've stopped and chatted with her to offer my TOTAL approval of her appearance, but to be honest, she took my breath away.

It wasn't until after I had walked by her on the way out carrying instruments to the car did I recover. She looked so lovely and willing to be innocently led.

(I thought to myself, "I think I would like to kiss her".... And I haven't historically even gone for girls.... But I mused to myself, "Oh honey.... I'd make an exception for you" :)

SPECIAL THANKS TO MIKE MEAGHER most of these PHOTOGRAPHS!

MIKE YOU FREAKING ROCK!!!

Got hit on and asked by several if we were going to some of the after parties. Sounded fun, but no. Harry and I had just finished two days of some really wildly ranging gigs and we were whooped tired.

First we did a pirate show for a MS on Friday night about 2 hours drive each way away. Complete with costuming, shanties, backdrop, and sound...

Next, on Saturday morning, Harry set up and ran sound for a University Graduation ceremony,

and then Saturday afternoon, we got dolled up and put our randy-est foot forward to let loose, swear and flaunt our stuff in a looser setting here at the Erotic Arts Festival.
LOL :)

And those 3 gigs in 2 days was a wild time too~

SO~

If you ever get a chance to go to one of these Erotic Arts Festivals in your area or this one when it comes around again next time, I highly encourage any of you that are sensual, open minded and curious about learning new things to go to it! See what you can see!

Sexuality is not the Enemy.

Ignorance IS.

Our combined Sensuality and Sexual nature is part of our shared HUMANITY.

So, this is your intrepid reporter of life signing off for now~

Erotically, Piratically and Appreciatively Yours~
Merlyn