The Traditional Witchcraft series

Melusine Draco has written a series of Traditional Witchcraft books:

Traditional Witchcraft for the Seashore
The author takes us on a magical journey along the seashore and reveals how to work with the natural oceanic tides and energies. Learn how to harness the powers of the deep, and collect flotsam and jetsam for use as ritual tools.

Traditional Witchcraft for Urban Living
Traditional Witchcraft for Urban Living deals with the constant barrage of psychic problems that confront the urban witch on a daily basis. Based on the teachings of a traditional Craft background, the author successfully manages to blend the Old Ways with practical contemporary practice.

Traditional Witchcraft for the Woods & Forests
For a traditional witch, WoodCraft differs quite considerably from FieldCraft because whereas the woods have been part of our landscape since the beginning of time, fields and hedgerows are a relatively recent innovation. Here we encounter the primitive, sometimes hostile, sensations that we encounter when walking alone in the woods.

Traditional Witchcraft for the Fields & Hedgerows
For a traditional witch, FieldCraft differs quite considerably from WoodCraft because whereas the woods have been part of our landscape since the beginning of time, fields and hedgerows are a relatively recent innovation. The witchcraft of FieldCraft is of a much more domestic and homely variety, not moving far from hearth or cattle byre.

Traditional Witchcraft & the Path to the Mysteries
Traditional Witchcraft and the Path to the Mysteries, the sixth and last in the Traditional Witchcraft series, is a voyage of discovery and, as with every journey, it is essential that we understand where we are now and where we want to be. We need proper direction unlike that popular old Irish saying: “If I wanted to be going there, I wouldn’t be starting from here!” So let us make our preparations, put our house in order, and begin our journey of exploration and self-discovery.

 
The first four books are available now, the last one is due to be published in March.

Although each one could be read individually this series works best by starting with the first one and following them through as they take you on a personal journey, each one not only full of information but also practical exercises for you to work with.

http://www.moon-books.net/

Why all the cakes?

The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed an abundance of cakes/baking/cooking recipes appearing on my facebook page recently so I thought I had better explain myself...

I have always loved cooking making all meals from scratch, holding dinner parties and catering for lots of people however baking was never my favourite.

Then we started providing homemade cakes for the Kitchen Witch rituals and workshops and it sparked my love of baking.  Following on from that we were asked to write a regular recipe column for the Mystik Way magazine and then I was asked to write recipes for the Pagan Dawn magazine.  So it was a combination of coming up with nice recipes for the rituals and workshops and then looking for interesting things to write about for the magazines. And of course for anyone that has done our online courses they include recipes too!

Then Tracey had one of her lightbulb moments and we created the Kitchen Witch Cakes from the Cauldron book...more baking...lots of testing...and heap loads of photographs of cakes...

The spark of interest in baking has now become a passion (trying not to use the word obsession) added to the fact that I have been writing a book about magical food for the past seven months which is now with the publisher for copy editing there is no escape.

We have been running the Kitchen Witch Cauldron blog for a while and that has now also encouraged us to start a Kitchen Witch Cauldron facebook page too.

There may well be a Cakes from the Cauldron book two at some point as well.

There is magic in baking, in cooking and in creating beautiful dishes I love the whole process and find it incredibly medative and calming...oh and the finished product is also very well worth it...

Mother Goose

Now you thought that Mother Goose was just a children's nursery rhyme?  think again...

Breaking the Mother Goose Code by Jeri Studebaker
How a Fairy-Tale Character Fooled the World for 300 Years

Not a connection I have ever made until I read this book...what a stunning revelation and one that makes absolute perfect sense.

The author has taken a seed of inspiration and researched it incredibly well and unearthed a huge amount of information to back up the theory.

This book takes you through every step of the author's throught process, evidence, proof and information that takes you on many twists and turns of discovery.

Enlightening...

The official blurb:

Who was Mother Goose? Where did she come from, and when? Although she’s one of the most beloved characters in Western literature, Mother Goose’s origins have seemed lost in the mists of time. Several have tried to pin her down, claiming she was the mother of Charlemagne, the wife of Clovis (King of the Franks), the Queen of Sheba, or even Elizabeth Goose of Boston, Massachusetts. Others think she’s related to mysterious goose-footed statues in old French churches called “Queen Pedauque.” This book delves deeply into the surviving evidence for Mother Goose’s origins – from her nursery rhymes and fairy tales as well as from relevant historical, mythological, and anthropological data. Until now, no one has ever confidently identified this intriguing yet elusive literary figure. So who was the real Mother Goose? The answer might surprise you.

Publication 27th February 2015 - available to pre-order via Amazon

Just me...being me...

I was asked recently to write an essay for a Moon Books collaboration which I was more than happy to do because the others that have been published are excellent books (Naming the Goddess, Witchcraft Today & Paganism 101).

However when I sat down to write...to be honest the subject title scared me a little...
"Modern Pagan life, Being, Believing & Belonging in the 21st Century"It sounded a bit grown up for me and I ummed and ahhhd for a bit about what to actually write.  What if I didn't understand the meaning of the title and got it all skew wiff?  What if everyone else wrote a really clever essay and I didn't?  What if...what if...PANIC!

Then I thought...hey it's me...I am not an academic or an historian and have never claimed to be.  I walk my own pathway and can only share what I have learned along the way in my own fashion.  I have studied the pagan pathways in depth, in fact I love to study and I like learning from all sorts of different sources and all different pathways then I take the bits that work for me and I make them my own but it does not make me an expert, not by a long shot and I still have a lot to learn.

My books are written the way I talk, if you join us at the school, at a workshop or a ritual, listen to me at a talk or meet me in person you will get the same...me just being me...and that's how I write my books.

I was asked in an interview recently "how would you describe your style of writing" and my answer was - pull up a chair by the fire, have a cup of tea and a slice of cake, let's chat.

I admire those that can write eloquently and intellectually but that isn't my own style, I can only be ME...and I realise that I am actually very OK with that.

But I will still be apprehensive about reading the other essays when the book comes out...I just hope I don't need a dictionary to understand them...that would just be embarrassing...

The body con challenge

Well I did it...I went shopping yesterday with my family and encouraged by my husband and daughter I not only tried on several bodycon dresses I purchased one.  I suspect my husband was extremely pleased to see me in a figure hugging dress having gotten so used to me in floaty tents...

It was a bit scary...I was expecting to either burst into laughter at how ridiculous I looked or burst into tears at the lumps and bumps the dress would show...

Actually it was quite comfortable and I have to admit to going one dress size up...my actual dress size was VERY figure hugging and I felt a bit like a hooker...no disrespect to ladies of the night but it is not my chosen profession (I would hate to work nights for a start) so I went up a dress size and it fitted very well.

I did have that age old problem of the waist line ridge where your pants/tights end giving the otherwise smooth exterior of the dress a kind of dip but other than going without underwear (yes my husband did suggest it but we are back to the lady of the night scenario again) I don't think there is much I can do about that.

The dress is not my usual style and the question is will I ever wear it out? Apart from the fact I looked like I was going for a job interview at a bank... Actually this wasn't about fashion it was a personal quest/challenge for me to a. try one on b. purchase one and c. put the photos up for people to see...

Now my wibbly wobbly ego worried that people would think I was being vain or attention seeking...maybe there was a bit of the attention seeker in there but for the right reasons.  This is part of my personal journey to accept myself and my body but in sharing my experiences publically I hope to at least in some way help others that are perhaps feeling the same way that I do.

My mind was pondering on this last night and I realised that there was a lot of connection to the stages of womanhood in this.

Maiden - you are young, carefree, healthy and your body is slim, trim and firm and perky in the right places, you have confidence but perhaps not experience.

Mother - your body goes into sudden shock mode at becoming a baby making machine, it is stretched, pushed and pulled in all manner of ways throughout pregnancy and breastfeeding.  It also changes your life completely.  I think you sometimes lose a part of yourself, a bit of your personality and confidence disappears and the children (quite rightly so) become the main priority in your life.  You are no longer just a carefree couple you are parents with responsibilities...and very little privacy!

Matriarch - I think this is the stage I am entering.  The children are growing up and you can claim back a bit of your own inner being and start to focus on yourself a bit more and your relationship. Your body will probably never be the same because by now not only has motherhood taken its toll but age is also doing its bit to send all your body parts towards the ground.  But you have a bit more life experience now and can hopefully take back control...

Crone - these are your years of wisdom and now the ability to be in total control of your own life and what you want to do, basically you can do what you like and if people disapprove you can claim senility...

Being a working mum with two children, a house to run, a job, book writing, Kitchen Witch and all the other stuff that life brings (all of which I love by the way) it is about finding time to discover what and who you want to be and claiming back some 'me' time and some partner time too.

It is not an easy path, it has as many lumps and bumps as my body has but I think I am making headway...

Big hips and curvy bits...

As a lot of people did...I ate far too much food over the festive season and come the New Year I got caught up in the "should I lose some weight" mentality.  I think it has perhaps become a tradition for the New Year for all of us to jump into a diet...I lasted one week exactly, although I did lose 3lbs.  If you did make that decision and have stuck to it - well done!

Over the past couple of years I have slowly put on some weight, whether it was down to eating too much cake, sitting in front of a computer for too long or the good ole peri menopause or perhaps a combination of all three who knows but I am now sporting a UK size 16 figure.  This is the largest size I have ever been but how do I feel about it?

I think I have been on the roller coaster of emotions.  I don't think I will ever be a size 10 again, I just couldn't and wouldn't want to commit to the eating (or lack of) or exercise routine that would be required. In fact I personally wouldn't want to be a size 10.  I would perhaps like to be back to a size 14 but do I want to do the work to get there?  My immediate reaction is .. um no.

I don't live on a takeaway diet, I don't eat ready meals, I do cook nearly everything from scratch and use lots of organic vegetables and fruit and don't eat meat every day.  I don't eat loads of fatty foods, in fact I don't even like chips, I don't cook with lard, lots of butter or fry everything. I do bake cakes but not every day.

A couple of months ago we were in a restaurant and the waitress was wearing a very figure hugging dress and she was probably a size 18 to 20 and boy did she totally rock those curves (the boys couldn't take their eyes off her) she looked absolutely gorgeous, but...would I have the confidence to wear such an outfit?  I am not so sure, I tend to veer towards a hippy/gypsy/boho kind of fashion anyway which is more about layers and floaty rather than figure hugging anyway.

I asked myself some questions:

Do I want to be skinny - NO
Do I want to be healthy - YES
Do I care what size the label on my dress says - NO
Do I want to feel good - YES
Do I want to look good - YES
Do I want to live on salad and count the calories - NO
Do I want to eat scrummy healthy food AND have treats - YES

All of these questions have led me to the conclusion that I don't want to diet, I just need to continue to eat the healthy balanced meals that I do but maybe cut out some of the treats.

I think it is all down to feeling comfortable and confident about your body size and shape, as long as you eat plenty of healthy food and feel good then who cares what size you are?

I also thought that being slightly bigger than I was used to, I had to hide it all and have been wearing tent like dresses and tops which in fact probably aren't as flattering as something fitted, I perhaps need a new mind set for outfits as well.

Will you see me in a bodycon dress anytime soon?  Who knows...but what I do know is that I need to stop worrying about it all, to embrace my figure as it is and to enjoy the cooking and food as I have done.

Life is for living and I certainly don't want to be calorie counting every bite that I put into my mouth that's for sure, I do need to make sure I am eating healthy and I just have to accept the new me...

Update from a cold, wet and windy corner

Well it's January...it has never been my favourite month and I am not liking this one much more than the rest of them.  Although in the scale of things for me personally it isn't really that bad, but the World as a whole does seem to have gone completely mad.

The weather is cold, wet and windy here in the UK and it is back to routine and school runs in the pouring rain, although I have one child home poorly at the moment with the cold bug thing that seems to be doing the rounds.

And of course I am feeling the 'festive food hangover' and desperately trying to eat in a vaguely healthy fashion...

I have HUGE amounts of writing to do but motivation seems to have departed except when it comes to baking...yesterday I was distracted by a maple syrup cake and sesame seed brittle which all turned out brilliantly (even though I say so myself) but wasn't actually very productive on the writing front (or the healthy eating).

Today my mission is to crack on with the wordage...I am very close to finishing the manuscript for A Kitchen Witch's World of Magical Food and if I don't finish it soon it will be 2016 before it gets published!

I did get a couple of recipes made at the weekend for my next article in the Pagan Dawn magazine but as they work ahead the feature won't be out until Beltane...so we stood in the garden in a howling gale taking photographs of baked goods and hoping that the scene we set looked summery...it was all we could do to stop the cakes from blowing of the plate... (and yes that is Columbo on my apron).

Preparations are all sorted for our trip to the Enchanted Market on 7th February where we will not only be running a mini magical herbs workshop but we will also have our Goddess Temple set up for the day for meditations, petitions, blessings or just for people to pop in for a few minutes and chill out.

Writing is also being finished up for our Herbal Pathways course that starts on 1st March, it is always really interesting writing the courses because as we write them we also work through them, always an eye opener!

Right...motivation...focus...determination...ooooh sparkly shiny things...

GoodReads Giveaway

OK...time for some freebies...

I am running a book giveaway over on www.goodreads.com

Click the link below to go take a peek.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23122087-a-kitchen-witch-s-world-of-magical-herbs-plants

Two copies of my latest book A Kitchen Witch's World of Magical Plants up for grabs...to be sent anywhere in the world.